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Nelly's  Dark  Days,  by  Hesba   Stretton. 

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Old  Back  Room  (The),  by  Jennie 
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Russell  Family  (The),  by  Anna  Hastings. 

Syrian  Home  Life,  by  Rev.  H.  H.  Jes- 
•sup,  D.  D. 

Starling  (  The),  by  Norman  Macleod. 

Tom  Burton  ;  or,  The  Better  Way. 

Toil  and  Trust :  or,  The  Life  Story  of 
Patty,  by  Mrs.  E.  L.  Balfour. 

Twice  Found,  by  the  author  of  Lonely 
Lilly. 

Victory  of  the  Vanquished  :  A.  Story  of 
the  First  Century,  by  the  author  of  the 
Schonberg-Cotta  Fami'y, 

Wonderful  Life.  A  Life  of  Christ,  by 
Hesba  Stretton. 

Wandering  May,  by  the  author  of  Lonely 
Lilly,  &c. 


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UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA   SAN  DIEGO 


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LIBRARY  I 

UNIVfTT'  ",'•'  Y  OF 

CALi:rO>«\MA  I 

SAN  DIEGO  J 


WAR  WITH  THE  SAINTS. 

COUNT  RAYMOND  OF  TOULOCSE, 

AND   THE 

C  R  U  S  A  DJE 
AGAINST  THE  ALBIGENSES, 

UNDER 

POPE  INNOCENT  III. 


BY 

CHARLOTTE  ELIZABETH. 


SUustvattto  SEWtfon. 


NEW  YORK : 

DODD,    MEAD    &    COMPANY, 
751  BROADWAY. 


PREFACE. 


TUB  present  volume  is  the  last  work  nrhich  pro- 
ceeded from  the  pen  of  CHARLOTTE  ELIZABETH.  It 
occupied  much  of  her  time  and  thoughts  during  the 
last  eighteen  months  of  her  life ;  and  the  story  and 
her  earthly  existence  came  to  a  close  almost  at  the 
same  moment. 

The  work  presents  a  singular  instance,  also,  of  a 
literary  labor  persevered  in,  and  carried  to  a  com- 
pletion, under  circumstances  of  the  most  painful 
character.  Shortly  after  she  had  commenced  thia 
narrative,  an  ailment  which  ultimately  proved  to  be 
cancer,  showed  itself,  which  terminated  her  life  on 
the  12th  of  July,  1846.  Her  mental  vigor,  how- 
ever,  was  scarcely  diminished  by  it,  even  up  to  the 
very  close  of  her  days.  In  her  Personal  Recollec- 
tions, the  methods  she  had  recourse  to,  during  hei 
illness,  are  thus  described : 

"  She  continued  to  conduct  her  Magazine ;  and  to 
effect  the  mechanical  operation  of  writing,  she  in- 


t  PREFACE. 

vented  during  one  of  her  sleepless  nights,  a  machine 
which  was  immediately  constructed  by  a  clever  car- 
penter. It  consisted  of  two  rollers  on  a  frame  ;  on  the 
lower  one  many  yards  of  paper  were  rolled,  and  a*, 
fast  as  she  filled  a  page,  writing  with  the  frame  rest- 
ing on  her  knees,  a  turn  of  a  small  winch  wound  off 
the  manuscript  to  the  upper  roller,  and  brought  up 
a  ciean  surface  of  paper.  In  this  manner  she  would 
write  papers  for  the  press,  and  letters  to  friends, 
measuring  three,  or  four,  or  six  yards  in  length. 
Dictation  was  very  difficult  to  her ;  no  pen  hvt  her 
own  could  follow  her  thoughts  with  sufficient  rapid- 
ity, nor  did  she  resort  to  this  mode  of  writing,  un- 
til absolutely  compelled  to  it,  during  the  two  last 
months  of  her  life." 

It  was  by  the  help  of  this  machinery,  that  the 
present  volume  was  written.  But  these  labors,  per- 
formed at  such  a  sacrifice  of  physical  comfort,  to 
which  her  enthusiastic  soul,  devoted  to  the  cause 
of  Truth,  impelled  her,  are  at  an  end.  For  the 
closing  hours  of  one  whose  remarkable  character 
invested  even  ordinary  scenes  with  such  absorbing 
interest,  the  reader  is  referred  to  her  recently  pub- 
lished memoir,  which  closes  with  this  paragraph  :— 

"She  also  directed  that  no  stone  should  be  laid 
over  her;  but  that  her  resting-place  should  be 


rKEFACE.  » 

marked  by  a  simple  headstone,  dictating  the  epi 
taph,  which,  with  the  addition  of  the  date,  has  bee« 
•.bus  inscribed : 

HERE 
LIE  THE  MORTAL  REMAINS 

OP 

CHARLOTTE    ELIZABETH, 

THE 

BELOVED  WIFE 

or 

LEWIS  HYPOLYTU3  JOSEPH  TONNA. 

\ 

WHO 

91  ED     ON     THE    12th    OF    JOLT, 

MDCCCXLV. 

MXMUNG  L'XTO 


CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  I. 

THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST  IN  THE  TWELFTH  CENTURT  1 

CHAPTER  II. 

ANTICHRIST  ......  45 

CHAPTER  ffi. 

THE  CRUSADERS ,9. 

CHAPTER  IV. 

THE   CAVERN  ....  ...       151 

CHAPTER  V. 

THE   LADY  OK   LAVAUR 179 

CHAPTER  VI. 

THE    WEARING   OUT  ....  .319 

CHAPTER  VII. 

CONCLUSION    ....  ...      259 

4JTENDIX         ."..».  ,      302 


WAR    WITH   THE   SAiNTS, 

CHAPTER   1. 

THE    CHURCH   OF   CHRIST   IN   THE    TWELFTH   CENTURY.. 

"  HE  doth  not  afflict  willingly,  nor  grieve  the 
children  of  men."  So  spake  the  inspired  Prophet, 
in  the  midst  of  one  of  the  most  bitter  lamentations 
ever  uttered  by  mortal  lip,  or  penned  by  mortal  hand. 
A  visitation  of  dire  wrath  had  overwhelmed  his  na- 
tion ;  the  severity  of  which,  in  the  eye  of  a  pious 
Israelite,  it  is  scarcely  possible  for  us  even  faintly  to 
conceive  ;  Jerusalem  was  overthrown,  her  palaces 
destroyed ;  the  holy  and  beautiful  house  where  her 
children  had  worshipped,  was  burnt  with  fire,  and 
with  it  was  lost  a  treasure  such  as  no  people  on 
earth  had  ever  possessed — tablets,  on  which  the 
finger  of  Omnipotence  had  traced  in  visible  charac- 
ters the  great  commandments  of  His  eternal  law  :  a 
portion  miraculously  preserved,  of  what  the  Psalmist 
calls  "  angels'  food,"  the  sustenance  with  which,  for 
forty  years,  Israel  had  been  daily  fed  from  heaven, 
and  which  was  laid  up,  by  Divine  command,  as  a 
1 


«  THE    CHURCH    OF    CHRIST 

testimony  for  succeeding  generations  ;  the  rod  also, 
whence  in  a  night  had  sprouted  the  leaf  and  blossom, 
and  the  fruit  had  ripened,  to  establish  by  miracu- 
lous attestation  the  High  Priesthood  of  Aaron  and 
his  sons  over  the  whole  house  of  Israel  All  thcs 
were  lost :  and  with  them  the  mercy-seat,  on  whicl 
rested  the  glorious  Shechinah,  the  visible  manifesta- 
tion of  the  Divine  presence.  Judah,  too,  was  gone 
into  captivity,  the  palaces  of  Zion  were  forsaken, 
her  mighty  bulwarks  were  broken  down,  and  the 
city  sat  solitary  that  had  been  so  full  of  people. 

To  attempt  a  description  of  what  was  then  the 
agonizing  affliction  of  those  who  looked  upon  the  ruin, 
alike  of  the  land,  the  city,  and  the  people,  would  be 
to  transcribe  the  whole  of  that  touching  Lamentation 
of  Jeremiah  ;  yet  in  the  midst  of  all,  his  faith  rises, 
strong  and  undepressed,  though  his  heart  is  wrung 
with  sorrow,  and  his  eyes  failed  with  weeping  day 
and  night  for  the  destruction  of  the  daughter  of  his 
people ;  and  he  says,  "  The  Lord  will  not  cast  off 
forever;  but  though  he  cause  grief,  yet  will  he 
have  compassion,  according  to  the  multitude  of  his 
mercies.  For  he  doth  not  afflict  willingly  nor  grieve 
the  children  of  men."  This  is  the  more  remarkable, 
because,  under  the  Mosaic  dispensation,  national  ind 
individual  prosperity  in  temporal  things  was  count  3d 
as  a  token  of  the  Divine  favor :  it  was  promised  as 
such ;  its  withdrawal  was  an  express  avowal  of 
wrath  against  the  sufferer ;  and  the  utter  blight 
that  had  now  fall  ^.n  upon  the  Jewish  people,  the 


IN    FHt   TWELFTH    CEJJTURT.  3 

dissolution  of  their  polity,  the  extinction  of  their 
kingdom  ;  above  all,  the  profanation  and  wreck  of 
their  most  holy  things,  with  their  own  forcible  ex- 
pulsion from  the  land  that  God  gave  unto  their 
fathers,  was  a  trial  of  faith  the  most  fiery  that  it 
could  be  subjected  to  by  Him,  who,  as  a  refiner  of 
silver,  sits  to  judge  and  to  purify  his  people- 

Well,  therefore,  may  we,  when  about  to  treat  of 
heavy  calamities  which  befell  the  Christian  church, 
select  tliis  from  among  the  things  that  happened  for 
examples,  and  which  are  written  for  our  admonition 
upon  whom  the  ends  of  the  world  are  come;  for 
we  must  fix  our  regards  on  times  and  events  that  no 
eye  can  steadily  contemplate,  apart  from  the  full 
assurance  of  faith,  that  the  Lord  never  did,  never 
could,  never  will  forsake  or  overlook  one  trusting 
soul :  that,  howsoever  our  hearts  may  yearn  over 
their  miseries  in  the  flesh,  still  we  are  authorized 
to  count  them  happy  which  endure  ;  and  to  remem- 
ber that  the  sufferings  of  this  present  time  are  not 
worthy  to  be  compared  with  the  glory  that  shall  be 
revealed,  when  those  who  have  taken  up  their  Mas- 
ter's cross,  and  left  all  for  him,  shall  be  exalted  in 
the  sight  of  the  universe  to  share  his  final  reign. 
To  which  be  it  added,  they  concerning  whom  we 
are  about  to  write,  have  now  long,  long  been  resting 
frDrn  every  labor,  and  enjoying  the  blessedness  se- 
cured to  all  who  die  in  the  Lord.  Although  the 

O 

consummation  of  their  glory  be  not  yet  come,  be- 
cause he  has  not  yet  taken  to  him  his  great  power: 


4  THE    CHURCH    OF    CHRIST 

and  openly  reigned,  still  they  are  with  him  in  para- 
dise, havino-  washed  their  robes  from  the  stain  even 

'  O 

of  their  own  martyrdom,  and  made  them  white  in 
the  blood  of  the  lamb. 

Not  as  the  Mosaic,  was  the  Christian  institution 
in  temporal  things :  not  as  the  visible  kingdom  of 
Israel  was  to  be  the  invisible  kingdom  of  Christ, 
during  his  personal  absence  from  his  people.  The 
difference  between  the  external  circumstances  of  the 
two  is  as  wide  as  the  difference  between  the  unveiled 
Majesty  of  the  awfully  glorious  descent  from  the 
blazing  heavens  on  Sinai's  summit,  and  the  shroud 
of  woe,  and  darkness,  and  humiliation  that  hung  over 
the  descent  from  the  blood-stained  cross  to  the  grave. 
Israel  of  old  could  say,  "  The  Lord  is  a  man  of  war," 
and  under  his  banner  they  marched  forth,  to  execute 
vengeance  upon  his  stubborn  enemies,  and  to  estab- 
lish a  visible  dominion,  to  which  appertained  the 
visible  glory  of  his  frequent  presence,  robed  in  the 
cloud  that  rested  on  the  place  of  which  he  had 
vouchsafed  to  say,  "  Here  will  I  dwell."  The  church 
of  Christ  looks  to  her  Master,  and  hears  his  word  in 
reference  to  temporal  things,  "  If  I  were  a  king,  then 
would  my  subjects  fight ;  but  now  is  my  kingdom 
not  from  hence."  She  knows  that  in  order  finally 
tc  reign,  she  must  first  suffer  with  him  ;  and  though 
her  whole  course  is  a  warfare,  it  is  not  against  flesh 
Sind  blood  that  she  must  wrestle  with  carnal  weapons: 
the  principalities  and  powers  and  wicked  spirits  in 
high  places  that  pnmpt  evil  men  to  injure  her.  arc 


IN    THE    TWELFTH    CENTURY.  A 

the  fres  that  she  has  to  conquer ;  and  well  do  hel 
children  know  that  them  they  must  overcome  by  th« 
blood  of  the  Lamb,  and  by  the  word  of  their  testi- 
mony, loving  not  their  lives  unto  the  death.  In  all 
this  there  is  a  beauty,  and  a  fitness,  and  a  harmo- 
nious adaptation  of  the  various  parts,  each  to  its  own 
peculiar  time  and  order  of  working,  that  we  cannot 
too  attentively  contemplate.  They  are  portions  of 
the  one  magnificent  whole  which  we  see  not  yet; 
but  from  which  in  its  still  shrouded  mysteriousness  a 
ray  of  glory  sometimes  darts  into  the  believing  soul, 
sufficient  to  cheer  it  under  all  sorrows,  and  to  nerve 
it  into  such  endurance  as  frail  humanity  could  other- 
wise never  attain  to. 

The  worldly  service,  and  the  sanctuary,  that  be- 
longed unto  Israel,  never  were  intended  to  outlast 
their  own  supremacy,  nor  to  pass  into  other  hands 
while  they  remain  outcast  and  dispersed,  reft  of 
their  national  privileges.  The  apostle  distinctly 
says,  that  to  his  brethren,  his  kinsmen  after  the  flesh, 
who  are  Israelites,  pertain  the  adoption,  and  the 
glory,  and  the  covenants,  and  the  giving  of  the  law, 
and  the  service  of  God,  and  the  promises.  In  all 
this  he  plainly  refers  to  matters  in  which  we  have 
no  part,  under  the  present  dispensation ;  and  it  was 
in  an  unauthorized,  unscriptural  attempt  to  grasp 
at  these  external  things  that  the  Christian  church, 
as  an  ecclesiastical  body,  lost  her  balance  arid  fell. 
She  would  needs  have,  of  her  own,  an  outward 
*  Adoption,"  .irrespective  of  the  witnessing  Spirit 
1* 


6  THE    CHUKCH    OF 

within  :  therefore  tending  to  grieve,  to  lesist  and 
finally  to  quench  that  Spirit:  she  would  have  a 
"  glory"  equivalent  to  the  divine  Shechinah,  though 
to  accomplish  it  she  must  make  to  herself  an 
imaginary  divinity  :  she  would  arrogate  the  pos- 
session of  a  "  covenant"  that  left  all  beyond  her 
external  pale  in  a  state  of  heathen  alienation  from 
God  :  she  would  be  a  "  lawgiver" — the  word  should 
go  forth  from  Constantinople,  the  law  of  the  Lord 
from  Rome.  She  would  have  a  "  service  ;"  a  tem- 
ple, an  altar,  a  sacrifice,  with  no  better  warrant  than 
could  be  shown  for  the  golden  calves  at  Bethel  and 
at  Dan ;  and  bearing  precisely  the  same  analogy  to 
the  scriptural  worship  of  God,  as  did  these  royal 
inventions  to  the  holy  place  at  Jerusalem,  from 
which  they  were  effectual  in  seducing  many  to  the 
ruin  of  their  own  souls.  She  would  also  appropri- 
ate "  the  promises :"  and  that  so  exclusively  that 
none  who  were  not  outwardly  and  visibly  of  her, 
should  have  any  part  or  lot  in  the  heavenly  Canaan : 
and,  in  process  of  time,  the  self-appointed  lawgiver 
became  also  a  judge  and  an  executioner;  so  that  the 
penalty  of  death,  imposed  under  the  Jewish  institu- 
tion on  apostates  to  idolatry,  came  to  be  denounced, 
and  most  unsparingly  carried  out  by  her,  upon  all 
such  as  should  refuse  to  acknowledge  the  gods 
many,  and  lords  many,  whom  in  the  progress  of  her 
judicial  infatuation  she  was  led  to  set  .up.  Hence 
the  sufferings  of  the  true  church  of  Christ ;  whose 
office  it  became,  of  imperative  necessity,  to  bear 


IN    THE    TWELFTH    CENTURY.  7 

witness  not  only  for  him,  but  against  the  false  one 
who  wrongfully  usurped  a  title  not  her  own,  and 
proclaimed  herself  the  occupant  of  a  vacated  throne, 
which  it  was  God's  pleasure  should  remain  unten- 
anted,  until  He  come  whose  right  it  is. 

"  I  sit  as  a  queen,"  said  the  intoxicated  self-de- 
ceiver, when  thus  she  had,  in  her  own  estimation, 
climbed  up  to  heaven  ; — "  I  am  no  widow,  and  shall 
see  no  sorrow."  Far  different  was  the  language  of 
the  true  church  :  she  has  lighted  her  lamp,  and  re- 
mains watching  at  her  unpretending  post,  until  the 
cry  shall  be  heard,  "  Behold,  the  bridegroom  com- 
eth  !"  Instead  of  assuming  the  possession  of  those 
rich  and  goodly  things  that  belonged  to  the  former 
temple ;  and  titles,  and  offices,  and  honors,  which 
could  not  outlive  its  destruction  ;  the  members  of 
that  lowly  church  declare,  "  We  have  this  treasure 
in  earthen  vessels,  that  the  excellency  of  the  power 
may  be  of  God,  and  not  of  us.  We  are  troubled 
on  every  side,  yet  not  distressed  ;  we  are  perplexed, 
but  not  in  despair :  persecuted,  but  not  forsaken ; 
cast  down,  but  not  destroyed  :  always  bearing  about 
in  the  body  the  dying  of  the  Lord  Jesus ;  that  the 
life  also  of  Jesus  might  be  made  manifest  in  oui 
body.  For  we  which  live  are  always  delivered  unto 
death  for  Jesus'  sake ;  that  the  life  also  of  Jesus 
might  be  made  manifest  in  our  mortal  flesh."  (2.  Cor. 
iv.  7—11.) 

This,  then,  is  the  respective  attitude  of  the  two 
classes  whom  we  new  are  to  exhibit  in  their  most 


THE    CHURCH    OF    CHRIST 

striking  contrast :  the  one,  in  attempting  to  rise  to 
an  inaccessible  height,  had  fallen  into  grievous 
apostasy,  yet  madly  believed  themselves  to  have  at- 
tained the  point  of  their  ambition :  and  launched 
around  them  the  flames  of  hell,  as  though  they  had 
been  the  lightnings  of  heaven  intrusted  to  their 
disposal.  The  other,  firmly  seated  on  the  rock 
where  God  had  placed  them  ;  exposed  to  every  on- 
set, every  wrong,  and  patiently  abiding  all,  rather 
than  quit  that  firm  foundation  for  the  pit  where  their 
fellows  were  plunged,  until,  their  testimony  being 
severally  finished,  they  were  received  into  the  place 
prepared  for  them  by  their  ascended  Lord.  To  the 
eye  of  man,  the  two  might  be  mingled  together, 
and  often  so  indiscriminately  that  no  mortal  might 
distinguish  them  in  the  wild  commotion  of  the 
hour ;  but  times  there  were  when  they  stood  apart 
in  visible  relief,  as  bold  and  as  obvious  as  was  their 
actual  separation  in  the  eye  of  Him  who  knoweth 
them  that  are  his. 

Yet  again,  we  have  to  guard  against  the  supposi- 
tion that  a  state  of  suffering  is  inseparable  from  the 
profession  and  possession  of  a  true  faith.  "  Godli- 
ness is  profitable  unto  all  things,  having  promise  of 
the  life  that  now  is>,  and  of  that  which  is  to  come." 
Many  a  devoted  follower  of  the  Lord  Jesus  has 
passed  through  life,  or  at  least  through  that  portion 
of  mortal  life  which  succeeded  his  conversion  to 
God,  with  no  other  affliction  than  that  which  the 
Struggle  of  inbred  corruptions  against  sanctifying 


IN   THE    TWELFTH   CENTURY,  ft 

grace  must  occasion  to  every  believer,  Tht  apoft- 
tles,  ia  a  season  of  severe  persecution,  addressed 
themselves  to  various  churches,  each  partaking,  or 
about  to  partake  more  or  less  in  the  same  tribula- 
tion. But  even  then  there  were  periods  of  refresh- 
ment, concerning  which  it  is  recorded,  "  And  they 
continuing  daily  with  one  accord  in  the  temple,  and 
breaking  bread  from  house  to  house,  did  eat  their 
meat  with  gladness  and  singleness  of  heart ;  praising 
God,  and  having  favor  with  all  the  people."  And 
again,  after  a  very  fierce  outbreak  of  persecuting 
violence  against  the  Lord's  servants,  "  Then  had  the 
churches  rest  throughout  all  Judea  and  Galilee  and 
Samaria,  and  were  edified ;  and  walking  in  the  fear 
of  the  Lord,  and  in  the  comfort  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
were  multiplied." 

But  when  the  enemies  of  Christ  become  active ; 
when,  by  fraud  or  by  force,  they  seek  to  pervert  the 
right  ways  of  the  Lord,  and  to  turn  away  their  breth- 
ren from  the  faith,  then  farewell  to  rest  and  peace 
and  prosperity,  so  far  as  outward  things  are  con- 
cerned, on  the  part  of  his  true  soldiers !  They 
have,  perhaps,  been  realizing  that  comfortable  word, 
"  Who  is  he  that  will  harm  you,  if  ye  be  followers 
of  that  which  is  good  ?"  they  must  now  look  to  the 
context,  "  But  and  if  ye  suffer  for  righteousness' 
sake,  happy  are  ye  !  And  be  not  afraid  of  their 
terror,  neither  be  troubled  ;  but  sanctify  the  Lord 
God  in  your  hearts."  These  and  similar  expres- 
sions, with  which  we  are  all  familiar,  and  which 


JO  .  THE   CHUKCH    OF   CHRIST 

may  have  yielded  sweet  comfort  to  ourselves  under 
our  light  afflictions,  are  deep  wells  of  consolation, 
proportioning  the  fulness  and  richness  of  their  sup- 
ply to  the  actual  need  of  such  as  approach  them: 
and  while  one  may  have  found  them  requisite  to 
yield  support  under  the  affliction  of  beholding  a 
frown  on  some  beloved  and  honored  countenance., 
while  obeying  God  rather  than  man,  by  refusing  to 
partake  in  the  sinful  follies  of  the  vain  world ;  an 
other  has  drawn  from  the  very  same  words  power 
to  look  on  the  lingering  tortures  of  a  dreadful  death 
inflicted  on  the  dearest  earthly  objects  of  the  heart's 
affection,  and  finally  'o  endure  the  same  without 
even  a  wish  to  escape  the  fiery  trial  by  compromis- 
ing a  firm  profession  of  the  truth  us  it  is  in  Jesus. 
This  is  a  solitary  text ;  and  we  who  possess  the  full 
volume  of  divine  consolation,  must  not  forget  that  in 
times  when,  perhaps,  a  whole  community  of  believ- 
ers had  inly  succeeded  in  secreting  among  them  a 
single  manuscript  copy  of  one  isolated  Gospel  or 
Epistle,  a  value  belonged  to  such  detached  portions 
of  an  imperfect  fragment  which  we  can  but  faintly 
appreciate  ;  or  how  "  by  every  word  that  proceedeth 
out  of  the  mouth  of  God,  doth  man  live." 

When  the  Lord  declares  to  the  favored  Evangelist 
his  purpose  to  give  power  to  his  two  witnesses,  that 
they  should  prophesy  in  sackcloth  for  the  long  space 
of  twelve  hundred  and  sixty  prophetic  days — a  day 
for  a  year — we  are  led  to  expect  something  remark- 
able, both  in  the  great  length  of  the  afflictive  iis- 


UTTHfi    TWELFTH   CENTURY.  11 

pelisation,  and  the  given  power  of  endurance  to  suc- 
cessive generations  of  faithful  men.  It  imports  that 
for  so  long,  an  enemy  should  reign,  whose  efforts 
would  be  systematically  directed  to  the  suppression 
of  this  persevering  testimony  ;  and  that,  although 
unable  to  silence  it,  they  should  so  far  prevail  as  to 
invest  the  witnesses  with  insignia  of  humiliation  and 
of  .mourning.  We,  therefore,  are  not  authorized  to 
stretch  these  peculiar  features  of  a  witnessing  church 
beyond  the  period  assigned  ;  nor  to  conclude  that 
heavy  trouble  is  the  invariable  badge  of  God's  chil- 
dren. Some  whom  He  has  hot  made  sad,  often  sad- 
den their  own  hearts  by  needless  doubts  of  their 
adoption  into  his  family,  when  they  contrast  their 
overflowing  cup  of  temporal  blessings  with  the  bit- 
ter sufferings  of  some  of  whom  the  world  was  not 
worthy.  Therefore  do  we  preface  with  a  few  cau- 
tionary words,  the  narrative  of  a  truly  witnessing 
church  throughout  a  period  of  unequalled  violence 
on  the  part  of  a  dominant  apostasy. 

But  as  we  cannot  conceive  of  a  true  follower  of 
Christ,  that  in  a  season  of  prosperity  in  temporal 
things  he  should  lay  aside  the  lowliness  that  forms 
a  part  of  the  Christian  character,  assume  the  dress 
and  deportment  of  an  ostentatious  worldling,  and 
follcw  the  dissipated  practices  of  the  ungodly  mul- 
titude, just  because  there  is  no  outward  hindrance 
to  his  so  doing ;  neither  can  we  reconcile  to  the 
character  of  a  Christian  community,  the  adoption  of 
xternals  that  have  ever,  from  the  first  falling  away. 


12  THE   CHURCH   OF   CHRIST 

been  the  badge  of  a  corrupt  and  wicked  apostasy. 
Ostensibly  inherited  from  the  Jewish  Church,  but  in 
reality  borrowed  from  the  very  worst  forms  of  pa- 
ganism, these  ecclesiastical  adornments,  and  arro- 
gant assumptions,  and  unseemly  luxuries,  leading  aa 
they  inevitably  do  to  the  crime  of  spiritual  adultery, 
are  as  far  removed  from  the  path  chalked  out  for 
that  church  which  is  the  spouse  of  Christ,  as  is  the 
former  course  inconsistent  with  the  duties  of  an  in- 
dividual member.  If  the  Lord  has  put  off  our  sack- 
cloth and  girded  us  with  gladness,  are  we  therefore 
to  array  ourselves  in  purple  and  fine  linen,  to  fare 
sumptuously  every  day,  and  to  trample  in  our  pride 
on  the  poor  brother  outside  the  gate  of  our  own 
costly  mansion  ?  This  is  palpably  the  tendency  of 
our  national  church  in  these  times,  and  the  mourn- 
ing garb  of  our  fathers,  their  prison- walls,  their  pile 
of  blazing  faggots,  are  all  forgotten,  in  a  growing 
imitation  of  the  gay  attire,  the  goodly  architecture, 
the  lordly  rule  of  their  ancient  persecutor.  Alas! 
too  prone  also  are  we  to  forget  the  word  of  their 
testimony,  while  learning  the  dulcet  notes  of  her 
song  who  slew  them. 

Happy  would  it  be  for  us,  could  we  more  accu- 
rately interpret,  and  more  feelingly  appropriate,  that 
much-abused  term,  "  the  church."  There  is  no  lack 
of  help  so  to  do  ;  for  we  are  repeatedly  told  that 
the  church  is  the  body  of  Christ ;  his  bride ;  the 
Lamb's  wife.  It  is  described  also  as  the  temple  of 
God,  because  in  each  true  believer,  individually,  the 


IN    THE    TWELFTH    CENTER*.  11 

Holy  Ghos.t  dwells  ;  each  is  by  virtue  of  this  in- 
dwelling Spirit  of  life  made  to  live,  in  the  highest 
sense  of  the  word ;  so  becoming  a  living  stone  ;  and 
while  a  multitude  of  these  stones  may  indeed  ex- 
hibit a  larger  and  more  outwardly  conspicuous  build- 
ing, two  or  three,  yea,  only  one,  where  but  one  is 
left  in  a  godless  community,  will  form  a  perfect 
temple,  and  that  temple  is  the  church  of  the  living 
God.  Where  a  sufficient  number  can  be  collected, 
offices  will  of  course  be  filled,  a  form  of  ecclesiasti- 
cal direction  and  government  carried  out,  in  accord- 
ance with  the  scriptural  model,  that  all  things  may 
be  done  decently  and  in  order ;  but  to  invest  with 
the  term  church  the  external  framework,  teaching 
Christians  to  regard  that  of  which  they  themselves 
form  the  substance  as  a  somewhat  placed  midway 
between  Christ  and  their  consciences,  a  somewhat 
claiming  the  title  of  their  dear  and  holy  mother,  and 
as  such  exercising  parental  authority  over  them,  is 
to  establish  a  confusion  of  words  and  things,  tend- 
ing not  only  to  perplex  the  mind  but  to  obscure 
the  faith,  and  finally  to  lead  into  subjection  to  an 
irresponsible  human  authority  those  who  are  com- 
manded to  try  all  things,  and  to  hold  fast  that 
which  is  good  ;  even  the  form  of  sound  words  de- 
livered by  inspired  men,  and  opened  to  their  under- 
standings  by  the  same  indwelling  £  pirit  of  God, 
apart  from  whose  direct  influence  a  man,  be  his  ex- 
ternal privileges  what  they  may,  is  none  of  Christ's, 
When  Luther,  in  the  solitude  of  his  monkish  cell, 
2 


14  THE    CHUKCH    OF ;  CHRIST  : 

had  experienced  this  illumination  he  appears  as 
though  the  whole  flood  of  revealing  ligl  t  were  con. 
centrated  on  him  alone.  But  it  was  not  so :  like 
Andrew,  he  enjoyed  a  precedence  in  the  vocation 
of  a  ministry  that  was  to  guide  the  steps  of  multi- 
tudes from  the  dark  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death, 
where  they  sat,  into  the  way  of  peace ;  but  God  had 
many  hidden  ones,  so  taught  of  the  Holy  Spirit  that 
they  worshipped  him  with  a  pure  worship,  and  bore, 
no  doubt,  each  in  his  own  little  sphere,  the  cross  of 
a  faithful  profession;  though  so  terribly  successful 
had  the  enemy  been  in  slaying  the  witnesses,  that 
for  three  years  and  a  half  no  sound,  no  sign  of  life 
was  publicly  recognizable  to  interrupt  the  triumph- 
ant vaunt  of  an  unbroken- rule.  In  like  manner,  at 
the  commencement  of  that  era  which  seems  then  to 
have  closed,  we  can  discover  but  one,  and  he  an  ob- 
scure man,  to  whom  was  committed  the  steward- 
ship of  the  mysteries  of  God ;  long  thrust  from 
view,  and  set  at  nought,  until  to  all  appearance  they 
were  withdrawn  from  earth,  to  make  room  for  the 
swelling  imposture,  the  mystery  of  iniquity  that 
usurped  their  name  find  place.  It  is  a  very  remark- 
able feature  in  the  history  of  that  dark  period  of 
the  Christian  Church  to  which  our  attention  is  now 
to  be  drawn.  The  world,  even  the  world  callintr  it- 

O 

self  Christian,  and  therefore  assuming  to  be  also  the 
church,  in  a  state  so  dark  that  the  lighting  of  a 
single  candle  forms  an  epoch  in  its  annals ;  the 
multiplication  of  lights  continued  under  a  sustained 


IN   THE   TWELFTH   CE.JTURY.  15 

and  vehement  effort  on  the  part  of  their  adversaries 
for  more  than  twelve  centuries  and  a  half  to  extin- 
guish them ;  followed  by  the  renewed  though  very 
brief  reign  of  that  gross  darkness,  and  the  relight- 
ing again  from  a  solitary  taper,  of  such  a  blaze  as 
has  spread,  more  or  less,  into  all  lands,  and  which 
certainly  will  not  again  be  put  out. 

But  the  gates  of  hell  never  so  prevailed  as  to 
leave  the  Lord  without  a  little  company  on  earth,  to 
each  of  whom  that  gracious  promise  was  fulfilled, 
"Lo,  I  am  with  you  always,  even  unto  the  end  of 
the  world."  Where  but  two  or  three  could  be 
gathered  together,  rightly  professing  his  name,  there 
was  He  in  the  midst  of  them  ;  and  if  the  sad  expe- 
rience of  Paul  became  that  of  an  unsupported  indi- 
vidual,— "No  man  stood  with  me," — his  also  was 
Paul's  rich  consolation,  "Nevertheless,  the  Lord 
stood  with  me,  and  strengthened  me."  Poor  indeed 
is  the  spectacle  of  pomp  and  ceremony  compared 
with  scenes  like  these,  when  the  poor,  persecuted, 
harassed,  helpless  outcast,  pursued  by  the  world's 
scorn,  and  well-nigh  crushed  beneath  its  cruel  vto-" 
lence,  rises  by  faith  above  its  deadly  malice,  and  lays 
hold  on  the  Lord's  strength,  and  reposes  on  his 
promise  :  when  that  strength  also  is  manifested,  and 
that  promise  fulfilled,  in  the  super-human  endurance 
of  the  weakest  trembler  ;  and  the  joyous  alacrity 
with  which  death  in  its  most  hideous  forms  is  wel- 
comed, because  to  depart  is  to  be  with  Christ.  Once 
it  was  given  to  a  terrified  Israelite  to  obtain  a 


16  THE    CUT;  ECU    OF   CHRIST 

glimpse-of  the  dazzling  hosts  of  heaven,  majestically 
encamped  around  the  prophet  of  the  Lord,  to  de- 
liver him  from  his  pursuers  :  one  little  moment  were 
those  favored  eyes  freed  from  the  mists  of  earth, 
and  strengthened  to  behold  the  flashing  brightness 
of  that  terribly  glorious  array  ;  for  "  Behold,  the 
mountain  was  full  of  horses  and  chariots  of  fire 
round  about  Elisha."  No  such  open  vision  has  been 
vouchsafed  during  this  suffering  dispensation  ;  but 
we  know  assuredly  that  still  as  of  old,  "  The  angel 
of  the  Lord  encampeth  about  them  that  fear  him, 
and  delivereth  them ;"  and  we  may, — as  believers 
we  must — add  to  the  sad  and  sorrowful  pageantry 
of  earth  the  undiscovered  glories  that  in  deep  arid 
true  reality  abide  where  the  believer  dwells,  and 
which  wait  but  the  moment  of  his  mortal  dissolution 
to  burst  in  all  their  ravishing  splendor  on  his  gaze 
to  wrap  him  in  their  own  celestial  panoply,  and  tc 
enrol  him  jn  their  blessed  company  for  ever. 

There  is  yet  a  needful  caution  to  be  observed, 
when  investing  any  community  with  the  name  and 
character  of  the  Lord's  witnessing  Church.  We 
must  not  lose  sight  of  the  cautionary  parable  which 
instructs  us,  that  when  a  field  has  been  sown  with 
pure  wheat  by  the  hand  of  the  Divine  husbandman, 
tLr  enemy  will  watch  his  opportunity  to  mingle  as 
plentifully  as  he  can,  the  worthless  and  deceptive 
tares  that  equally  grieve  and  perplex  the  Lord's 
faithful  seivants.  These  are  not,  in  the  general 


Ill    THE   TWELFTH    CENTURY.  17 

course  of  God's  providential  dealings,  rooted  up  at 
once,  but  are  left  to  the  great  day  of  separation. 
And  not  only  in  the  parable,  but  in  other  parts  oi 
scripture,  we  are  warned  of  the  existence  of  such 
incongruities  in  the  composition  of  what,  as  a  dis- 
tinct body,  we  are  justified  in  calling  a  truly  spiritual 
church,  with  a  pointed  reference  too  to  the  promi- 
nent position  to  be  occupied  by  that  protesting  and 
suffering  congregation.  Thus  in  Daniel,  "  And  they 
that  understand  among  the  people  shall  instruct 
many  ;  yet  they  shall  fall  by  the  sword,  and  by 
flame,  by  captivity  and  by  spoil,  many  days.  Now 
when  they  fall,  they  shall  be  holpen  with  a  little 
help,  but  many  shall  cleave  to  them  with  flatteries. 
And  some  of  them  of  understanding  shall  fall,  to 
try  them,  and  to  purge,  and  to  make  them  white, 
even  to  the  time  of  the  end." 

And  again,  our  Lord  repeats  the  warning  :  "  Then 
shall  they  deliver  you  up  to  be  afflicted,  and  shall 
kill  you  ;  and  ye  shall  be  hated  of  all  nations  for 
my  Name's  sake.  And  then  shall  many  be  offended, 
and  shall  betray  one  another,  and  shall  hate  one  an- 
other. And  many  false  prophets  shall  arise,  and 
shall  deceive  many  :  and  because  iniquity  shall  abound, 
tho  love  of  many  shall  wax  cold." 

Such,  alas !  has  been,  and  such  ever  will  be  the 
case  while  Satun  remains  at  large,  with  power  to 
exercise  his  subtle  craft,  by  transforming  himself 
into  the  semblance  of  an  angel  of  light,  and  his 
ministers  into  ministers  of  righteousness.  Is  there 
2* 


18  THE    CHURCH    OF    CHRIST 

a  congregation  among  ourselves  that  would  not, 
if  individually  called  over,  and  e?ainined  with  the 
keen  eye  of  a  scrutinizing  foe,  furnish  some  instance 
of  unholy  living,  accompanied  with  a  practical  de- 
nial of  truths  formally  confessed  by  the  lips,  and 
affording  a  sample  sufficient  to  condemn  the  whole 
company,  if  it  could  but  be  proved  that  all  his  fel- 
low-worshippers resembled  him  ?  When  the  faith- 
ful preacher  addresses  himself  to  impenitent  sin- 
ners, hardened  rebels,  or  hypocritical  pretenders, 
who  yield  a  lip-service  in  which  their  hearts  have 
no  part,  is  he  ever  able  to  persuade  himself  that 
even  amid  the  limited  numbers  then  present  before 
him,  no  conscience  will  bear  secret  testimony  to  the 
justness  of  such  description  ?  If  it  be  thus  in  a  land 
of  full  spiritual  freedom,  and  where  the  light  of 
revelation  encounters  no  intercepting  clouds  to  bar 
its  free  course,  what  must  we  expect  to  meet  with, 
in  records  penned  by  adverse  hands,  purporting  to 
be  those  of  a  poor  limited  company  of  witnesses 
agains't  the  wicked  spirits  who  then  ruled  in  all  the 
high  places  of  the  earth  ?  Even  a  child  may  discern 
at  a  glance  that  the  policy  of  Satan  was  obviously 
to  put  forward  some  rank  tares  in  the  field  of  wheat, 
and  to  obtain  a  judgment  of  his  own  suggesting,  not 
only  on  their  individual  quality,  but  on  their  perfect 
resemblance  to  all  that  grew  around  them :  as  a 
justification  of  the  sentence  that  doomed  them  :o  be 
all  cut  down  together  in  one  premature,  indiscrimi- 
nate harvest  of  death.  A  vast  deal  of  learning  and 


IK    THE    TWELFTH    CENTURY.  19 

laborious  research  have  been  expended  in  controver- 
sial investigations  of  this  subject ;  which  is.  after  all, 
only  to  be  rightly  apprehended  by  admitting  freely 
the  pure  light  of  Divine  truth  into  an  arena  where 
the  respective  combatants  are  too  read)'  to  assail 
each  other  in  the  dark,  with  weapons  as  carnal  as 
the  hottest  forge  of  persecuting  cruelty  could  make 
them :  what  else  are  the  annals  of  superstitious 
monks,  mercenary  apostates,  and  sanguinary  inquisi- 
tors, from  which  are  drawn  the  particulars  of  this 
fearful  epoch  ? 

From  such  doubtful  disputations  we,  however, 
mean  to  stand  aloof.  Our  business  is  to  deal  with 
facts.  We  find  a  nominally  ecclesiastical  ruler,  sit- 
ting in  the  seat,  and  invested  with  the  power  and 
great  authority  that  once  belonged  to  the  pagan 
emperors  of  ancient  Rome,  the  unquestionable  instru- 
ments of  Satanic  cruelty,  fraud,  violence,  and  blas- 
phemy. We  recognize  in  him  every  mark  with 
which  the  spirit  of  prophecy  has  branded  the  great 
Apostasy  that  was  to  work  dire  havoc  among  the 
flock  of  Christ,  and  to  make  war  with  the  saints,  to 
wear  them  out,  to  persevere  for  a  long  course  of 
time,  even  to  the  actual  silencing,  for  a  limited  space, 
their  public  testimony.  We  find  the  same  ruler 
suddenly  gathering  his  forces,  and  investing  with 
the  character  of  a  holy  war  the  merciless  enterprise, 
insomuch  that  to  take  part  in  it  was  to  purchase 
pardon  for  all  the  sins  of  a  long  life  at  the  hand  of 
this  it*  pious  pretender  to  divine  authority ;  we  te- 


20  THE   ,  HrRCH    OF   CHK.ST 

hold  him  precipitating  them  upon  a.  provirce  be- 
longing to  one  of  bis  ten  vassal  kings,  carrying  utter 
desolation  through  it,  "  by  the  sword  and  by  flame, 
by  captivity  and  by  spoil,"  for  "many  days;"  even 
until  there  was  none  left  of  those  who  had  provoked 
the  visitation  by  professing  a  faith  consistent  with 
what  was  once  delivered  to  the  saints,  and  therefore 
necessarily  opposed  to  his  own  most  blarpi.emous 
perversion  of  that  faith  by  means  of  such  doctrines 
and  such  practices  as  turned  the  truth  of  God  into 
a  lie.  Moreover,  we  find  the  people  so  "  persecuted" 
unto  the  death,  uniformly  "reviled"  by  -writers  on 
the  adverse  side ;  their  names  "  cast  out  as  evil," 
and  a  sustained  attempt  made  to  render  thejn  "  hated 
of  all  nations"  even  to  remote  posterity,  by  bringing 
against  them  accusations  similar  to  thoso  brought 
against  their  Divine  Master,  who  was  denounced  as 
gluttonous  and  a  wine-bibber ;  and  accused  of  hav- 
ing a  devil ;  who  was  arraigned  on  a  charge  of  com- 
bined sedition  and  blasphemy,  and  put  to  death  by 
the  Roman  power,  on  such  testimony  as  could  not 
even  wear  a  semblance  of  agreement  with  itself, 
much  less  of  criminating  weight  against  the  innocent 
victim.  In  all  this  we  trace  an  accumulation  of  pre- 
dicted signs,  not  to  be  brought  together  by  any  in- 
genuity of  man  ;  nor  by  such  ingenuity  at  its  utn  ost 
stretch  to  be  explained  away.  Men  who,  eithei  to 
protect  a  secret  ally,  or  to  uphold  some  favorite 
scheme  of  interpretation  peculiar  to  themselves, 
would  draw  a  veil  over  the  great  papal  apostasy, 


IN   THE   TWELFTH   CEXTURV.  £l 

;onc Celling  from  our  sight  its  most  unmistakable 
features,  in  order  to  prepare  us  for  a  different  mani- 
festation of  the  long-doomed  Man  of  Sin,  may  be 
tempted  to  avail  themselves  of  the  railing  accusa- 
tions  brought  against  our  martyred  brethren  by  men 
more  daring  than  angels  are  (Jude  9) ;  nay,  gravely 
tc  adduce  and  to  adopt  the  flagitious  records  of  the 
murderous  Inquisition,  noted  down  from  the  deliri- 
ous exclamations  of  victims  lying  on  the  rack,  and 
echoing  unconsciously,  or  alike  unconsciously  as- 
senting to,  the  wily  promptings  of  their  diabolical 
torturers  ;  or  else  duly  coined,  to  meet  any  possible 
emergency  of  future  investigation,  if,  peradventure, 
God  should  raise  up  an  avenger  of  innocent  blood, 
with  power  to  call  them  to  account  for  their  tremen- 
dous enormities.  Into  no  such  track  are  we  in  dan- 
ger of  straying  :  we  have  no  human  system  to  up- 
hold, or  historical  evidence  to  explain  away  ;  but  sim- 
ply adhering  to  the  fact  t'.:at  "  thus  it  was  written," 
and  thus  it  behooved  the  people  of  Christ  to  suffer 
with  him,  preparatory  to  their  future  participation 
in  his  glorious  reign,  we  would  pursue  the  story : 
rot  unmindful  of  the  farther  analogy,  that  THEY  suf- 
fered also  at  the  hand  of  the  beast,  when  recently 
installed  in  the  full  plenitude  of  that  sovereignty  of 
old  exercised  by  the  Dragon,  who  condemned,  and 
tortured,  and  crucified  HIM. 

If  the  blood  of  the  martyrs  may  be  called  the 
seed  of  the  church,  the  persecution  that  follows 
fheir  survivors  m;iy  also  be  regarded  as  the  wind 


22  THE    CHtfKCtt    01 

commissioned  to  scatter  that  seed,  and  to  carft 
it  into  places  already  prepared  for  its  reception 
"  Wind  and  storm,  fulfilling  God's  word,"  though 
terrible,  are  precious  agents  in  the  vast,  mysterious 
laboratory  where  His  unseen  hand  directs  every 
process  with  unerring  skill.  It  is  beautiful  to_con. 
template  the  rising  of  a  little  church,  like  a  tender 
plant,  in  some  sequestered  nook,  where  bright  sun- 
beams visit  it  in  the  morning,  and  gentle  dews  of 
heaven  fall  softly  at  evening's  close,  and  nothing  in- 
tervenes to  check  its  prosperous  growth  through  all 
the  early  stages  of  vegetable  life.  Summer  ad- 
vances ;  the  bud  is  formed,  the  flower  expands,  and 
many  a  roving  bee  perchance  alights,  extracting 
nurture  from  its  pleasant  hoard,  then  wings  his  way 
enriched  with  spoil  that  no  rude  robber's  eye  could 
have  discovered,  nor  the  hand  of  plunder  grasped. 
Thus  it  flourishes,  and  in  due  season  the  ripening 
seeds  attain  maturity,  ready  to  burst  their  pods,  and 
to  fall  within  the  narrow  circuit  of  their  own  light 
shadow  around  the  parent  stem.  But  God  will 
propagate  the  goodly  plant  in  other  soils  ;  at  his 
word  the  f  x>rmy  wind  ariseth  ;  and  while  the  forest- 
tree  that  sheltered  it  perhaps  bends  and  breaks,  and 
falls  to  overwhelm  it,  the  delicate  germs  of  the 
crushed  flower  beneath  are  borne  aioft  by  the  brc-aih 
of  that  destru  rtive  gale,  and  flee  before  it  to  othsi 
lands,  even  to  the  place  which  God  hath  appointed 
them ;  and  there  they  fall  unseen,  and  slowly  vege- 
tate beneath  the  surface,  and  spring  up,  men  know 


m    THE   TWELFTH    CENTURY.  23 

not  how,  in  a  place  where  nothing  resembling  them 
hath  ever  been  known  to  flourish. 

If  ever  there  was  a  race  to  which  this  comparison 
might  be  said  to  apply,  it  surely  was  that  ultimately 
known  as  THE  ALBIGENSES.  A  church,  indeed,  not 
a  race  of  men,  we  must  account  them  ;  for  they  re- 
plenished many  a  waste  place  upon-  the  earth,  not 
by  peopling  it  with  successive  generations  of  their 
own  stock,  but  by  leaving  here  and  there  a  root  of 
God's  own  planting,  by  means  that  he  alone  could 
provide,  which  grew  distinct  from  all  around  it,  ful- 
filled its  mission,  and  was  gone  by  means  of  his  over- 
ruling. And  then  we  are  left  to  search  about  for 
the  next  manifestation  of  that  undying  power  with 
which  He  has  invested  the  branch  of  his  planting; 
and  in  some  distant  land,  perhaps,  too,  under  a 
wholly  dissimilar  name,  we  recognize  this  work  of 
his  hands,  in  which  he  is  perpetually  glorified. 

Thus  it  was,  and  thus  indeed  it  must  needs  have 
been  throughout  the  dark  ages  of  universal  delusion, 
when  they  who  arrogated  an  exclusive  title  to  the 
name  and  offices  of  the  Christian  Church,  made  in- 
quest as  diligent  for  the  true  followers  of  the  Lord 
as  did  Herod  for  the  infant  Messiah  Himself;  and 
with  purpose  no  less  deadly.  Every  plant  that  God 
had  planted,  it  was  their  business  to  root  up  ;  and 
the  long  continuance  in  any  place  of  a  community 
essentially  Christian,  must  have  involved  the  inter« 
position  of  a  miraculous  power  not  openly  vouch- 
safed to  the  present  dispensation.  Accordingly  we 


24  ThB   CHURCH   OF   CHRIST 

must  not,  expect  to  meet  With  a  church  in  its  purity 
otherwise  than  of  a  migratory  character  ;  and  where 
we  find  one  permanently  abiding  in  populous  pUv.c.e, 
we  may  be  assured  that  much  of  alloy  must  Live 
entered  into  its  composition,  inducing  compromises) 
and  tolerating  abuses  dangerous  to  its  very  exist- 
ence ;  and  calling  for  some  searching  process  of 
trial  and  separation.  In  all  this  we  trace  a  worlt 
divinely  wise  and  good,  by  which  He  who  taught 
his  apostles  to  be  jealous  over  the  early  churches 
with  a  godly  jealousy,  still  preserves  his  spouse  in 
the  purity  of  her  faith  and  love,  even  though  it  be 
by  suddenly  and  severely  snatching  her  out  of  tho 
midst  of  perils  from  which  she  could  not  have  ex- 
tricated herself,  and  from  temptations  where  no 
other  door  of  escape  was  set  open.  When  the 
Lord's  way  is  altogether  in  the  sea,  and  his  path  iu 
the  deep  waters,  so  that  his  footsteps  cannot  be 
known,  we  are  bound  to  rest  in  the  assurance  thai 
all  his  works  are  righteous,  and  to  say,  "  Thou  art 
good,  and  doost  good  :"  but  it  is  cheering  to  trace 
when  we  are  permitted  so  to  do,  the  course  of  his 
providence  by  the  gleaming  light  that  his  own  word 
throws  upon  it. 

Some  "  plant  of  a  noble  vine,  wholly  a  right 
seed,"  was  long  secretly  growing  up  in  the  heart  ol 
those  Southern  Provinces  of  France  which  after- 
wards yielded  so  awful  a  harvest  of  blood.  The 
soil  was  perhaps  not  unfavorable  to  its  reception, 
torn  pared  with  others  :  for.  like  the  church  of  an- 


IN   THE   TWELFTH   CENTURY.  25 

eient  Britain,  these  dioceses  had  offered  a  prolonged 
resistance  to  the  encroaching  usurpations  of  the 
Bishop  of  Rome ;  and  though  their  independence 
h-ad  tx:en  crushed,  and  the  universal  yoke  kid  upon 
their  reluctant  shoulders,  there  lingered  amongst 
them,  no  doubt,  deep  traits  of  what  is  hard  to  eradi- 
cate, where  it  has  once  been  planted  in  faith,  and 
watered  by  prayer— even  that  freedom  wherewith 
Christ  had  made  their  fathers  free.  Yet  the  revival 
was  attributed,  and  no  doubt  justly,  to  foreign  influ- 
ence :  a  people  had  settled  among  them,  driven  from 
other  lands  by  the  persecuting  sword,  who  worship, 
ped  God  in  spirit  and  in  truth  :  being  branded  as 
heretics  by  the  princes  of  this  world  ;  a  sect  every- 
where spoken  against,  to  whose  charge  were  laid 
things  that  they  knew  not,  because  those  who  sought 
occasion  against  them  could  find  no  real  fault,  noth- 
ing to  allege  but  an  exemplary  devotion  to  the  law 
of  their  God,  and  they  were  therefore  constrained 
to  heap  upon  them  accusations  utterly  devoid  of  any 
foundation  ;  as  had  been  the  practice  of  ancient 
Rome  in  dealing  with  the  primitive  church.  In- 
deed, the  same  crimes  were  specified,  or  enormities 
very  similar  to  those  attributed  to  the  early  martyrs: 
Manicheism,  in  which  they  generally  summed  them 
up,  being  a  tissue  of  kindred  abominations.  So 
sarly  as  the  year  1165,  the  date  of  their  original 
settlement  as  enlightened  believers,  walking  contrary 
to  the  doctrines  of  the  papacy,  had  become  obscure' 
3 


26  fflE    CHURCH    Of    CHRIST 

their  enemies  could  not  ascertain  it.  In  a  canon  o! 
the  council  of  Tours  this  is  virtually  admitted.  "  In 
the  country  about  Toulouse,"  says  this  document, 
"  there  sprung  up  long  ayo  a  damnable  heresy,  which 
by  little  and  little,  like  a  cancer,  spreading  iiself  to 
the  neighboring  places,  in  Gascoigne,  had  already 
infected  many  other  provinces  ;  which  whilst,  like  a 
serpent,  it  hid  itself  in  its  own  windings  and  twinings, 
crept  on  more  secretly,  and  threatened  more  danger 
to  the  simple  and  unwary.  Wherefore  we  do  com- 
mand all  bishops  and  priests  dwelling  in  these  parts, 
to  keep  a  watchful  eye  upon  these  heretics,  and  un- 
der the  pain  of  excommunication,  to  forbid  all  per- 
sons, as  soon  as  these  heretics  are  discovered,  from 
presuming  to  afford  them  any  abode  in  their  coun- 
try, or  to  lend  them  any  assistance,  or  to  entertain 
any  commerce  with  them  in  buying  or  selling  ;  so 
that  at  least  by  the  loss  of  the  advantages  of  hu- 
man society  they  may  be  compelled  to  repent  of  the 
error  of  their  life.  And  if  any  prince,  making  him- 
self partaker  of  their  iniquity,  shall  endeavor  to  op- 
pose these  decrees,  let  him  be  struck  with  the  same 
anathema.  And  if  they  shall  be  seized  by  any 
Catholic  prince,  and  cast  into  prison,  let  them  be 
punished  by  confiscation  of  all  their  goods  :  and 
l«cause  they  frequently  come  together  from  divers 
parts  into  one  hiding  place,  and  because  they  have 
no  other  ground  for  dwelling  together  save  only  their 
agreement  and  consent  in  error;  therefore  we  will,  that 
such  their  conventicles  be  both  diligently  searched  af- 


IN   THE   tWELiffk   CfiNTtR?.  21 


ter,  and  when  they  are  found,  that  they  >e  exanl« 
ined  according  to  canonical  severity." 

In  this  brief  extract,  what  a  picture  is  presented 
to  the  mind's  eye  of  the  adverse  parties  referred  to  i 
On  the  one  hand  we  have  the  dragon's  voice,  pro- 
ceeding from  beneath  the  lamb's  horns,  proclaiming 
"  that  no  one  might  buy  or  sell,  save  he  that  had  the 
mark  or  the  number  of  the  beast,''  which  these 
harmless  sojourners  hnd  not.  We  see  him  exercis* 
ing,  in  daring  usurpation,  the  authority  of  Him  who 
alone  i?  "Prince  of  the  kings  of  the  earth;"  and 
extending  this  anathema  with  all  its  fearful  acconi' 
paniments  of  deposition  and  death,  to  any  sovereign 
who  should  presume  to  throw  the  shield  of  his  royal 
clemency  over  subjects  dwelling  within  his  own  ter- 
ritories ;  at  the  same  time  dictating  to  such  as  were 
willing  to  be  the  tools  of  this  Antichristian  cruelty, 
the  mode  to  be  adopted  in  dealing  with  their  prison- 
ers :  namely,  that  evidence  should  be  sought  for  of 
their  having  lived  in  Christian  communion  with 
brethren,  partakers  of  the  same  precious  faith,  and 
on  such  evidence  they  were  to  be  punished,  not  ac- 
cording to  the  civil  or  criminal  code  of  the  country, 
but  with  CANONICAL  severity  :  a  phrase,  the  full  pur- 
port of  which  we  shall  better  understand  in  pursu- 
ing the  history. 

On  the  other  hand,  we  see  the  accused,  as  de- 
scribed by  their  enemies,  dwelling  quietly,  giving 
none  offence,  earning  their  sustenance  by  lawfu, 
merchandise,  and  assembling  together,  not  to  pro 


88  THE  cmmcM  o?  CHRIST 

mote  dissatisfaction  to  any  constituted  authority,  not 
to  stir  up  strife,  or  to  plot  any  mischievous  device 
whatsoever,  but  simply  because  there  existed  among 
them  one  heart,  one  mind,  and  one  faith.  "  They 
have,"  says  this  canon,  "  no  other  ground  for  dwell- 
ing together  save  only  their  agreement  and  consent 
in  error" — -that  is,  in  the  pure  doctrine  of  the  Gos- 
pel of  Jesus  Christ,  who  has  left  on  record  a  mark 
of  true  discipleship  thus  unwittingly  recognized  by 
the  persecutor  of  his  church.  "  By  this  shall  all 
men  know  that  ye  are  my  disciples,  if  ye  love  one 
another:"  and  in  like  manner  we  are  enabled  to 
account  for  the  rapid  spread  of  the  truth  by  means 
so  silent,  so  unobtrusive,  and  to  their  adversaries  so 
inexplicable.  It  was  in  ansAver  to  the  Redeemer's 
prayer,  "  That  they  all  may  be  one  ;  as  thou,  Father, 
art  in  me,  and  I  in  thee,  that  they  also  may  be  one 
in  us  ;  that  the  world  may  believe  that  thou  hast  sent 
me."  Holding  the  faith  in  unity  of  spirit,  in  the 
bond  of  peace,  and  in  righteousness  of  life,  this 
little  company,  as  a  candle  of  the  Lord's  lighting, 
shone  in  a  dark  place  ;  and  many  were  thereby  won 
to  cast  away  the  works  of  darkness :  and  to  join 
themselves  unto  them,  in  reality  and  truth;  some, 
no  doubt,  shamed  or  persuaded  into  an  external 
reformation  of  manners,  rested  there,  unchanged  in 
lioart,  to  fall  before  the  first  temptation,  when  per- 
secution should  arise  because  of  the  word,  and  so 
to  bring  scandal  on  the  holy  cause  to  which  they 
had  never  b*?u  really  devoted;  and  perhaps,  to  be- 


IN    THE    TWELFTH   CENTl  RY.  iJ9 

come  accusers  of  the  brethren,  confirming  by  feigned 
confessions  under  their  assumed  character  the  cruel 
calumnies  of  the  enemy.  Others,  again,  acted  the 
part  so  frequent  in  the  Romish  community,  of  which 
we  find  an  example  in  the  ancient  enemies  of  our 
Lord,  who  "  sent  forth  spies,  which  would  feign 
themselves  just  men,  that  they  might  take  hold  of 
his  words,  so  that  they  might  deliver  him  to  th« 
power  and  authority  of  the  Governor.  And  they 
asked  him,  saying,  Master,  we  know  that  thou  say- 
est  and  teachest  rightly,  neither  acceptest  thou  the 
person  of  any,  but  teachest  the  way  of  God  truly." 
He  to  whom  these  deceivers  came,  "  perceived  their 
craftiness,  and  said,  Why  tempt  ye  me  ?"  but  nc 
such  heart-searching  power  was  conferred  on  his 
poor  followers  in  after  days,  when  wolves  in  sheep's 
clothing  thus  entered  their  humble  fold,  and  were 
received  by  the  confiding  flock  as  being  of  them- 
selves. Beyond  what  will  eA'er  be  found  cleaving 
to  man  in  the  flesh,  even  the  corrupt  inheritance  of 
a  nature  striving  against  the  sanctifying  Spirit, 
these  masked  inquisitors  found  nothing  whereon  to 
ground  an  accusation ;  but  they  were  enabled  to  as- 
certain the  precise  character  of  doctrines  univer- 
sally held  by  the  true  professors  of  a  pure  faith, 
and  to  mark  out  the  prominent  points  of  their  op- 
position to  the  tenets  of  Rome.  At  the  same  time 
they  enjoyed,  and  no  doubt  made  the  most  of, 
many  opportunities  of  speciously  introducing  un- 
sound opinions,  and  teaching  things  contrary  to  the 
3* 


30  THE    CHURCH    OF    CHRIST 

faith  that  they  falsely  professed  to  hold.  For,  b« 
it  remembered,  the  emissaries  chosen  for  such  work 
are  always  men  of  learning,  skill,  and  subtilty,  com- 
bined with  hardness  of  heart,  and  obduracy  of  mind, 
sufficiently  proved  to  serve  as  a  guarantee  against 
the  intrusion  of  compunctious  visitings,  or  any  fal- 
tering in  their  wicked  purpose. 

Thus  beset  on  all  sides,  while  as  yet  they  appre- 
hended no  evil,  but  dwelt  lovingly  in  the  midst  of 
a  population  remarkable  all  over  the  world  for  its 
refinement,  and  devotion  to  the  gentler  arts  ;  a  land 
of  painting  and  poetry  and  song,  a  land  of  vines 
and  fig-trees,  and  all  the  features  of  luxuriant  beauty 
that  could  combine  to  mould  the  characters  of  its 
inhabitants  into  that  pliability  which,  to  the  eye  of 
man,  promises  little  of  resistance  when  a  sterner 
force  is  brought  to  bear  upon  it ;  the  little  church 
of  the  Lord's  hidden  ones  was  marked  out  for  an 
easy  prey.  While  the  carnal  weapon  was  whetted 
to  its  keenest  edge,  other  and  more  insidious  modes 
of  injury  were  adopted,  and  the  whole  machinery 
of  injustice  brought  into  such  effectual  operation  as 
proved  the  little  sacerdotal  horn  to  be  a  worthy  off- 
shoot from  the  forehead  of  the  original  Beast,  the 
mighty  pagan  empire,  which  was  not  only  strong 
and  terrible  to  break  in  pieces  and  to  devour,  but 
also  remarkable  for  stamping  the  residue  under  his 
defiling  feet.  As  the  voracious  serpent  draws  his 
unclean  saliva  over  the  victim  that  he  is  about  to 
devour,  so  with  the  polluting  exudations  of  its  ca 


IN    THE    TWELFTH    CENTURY.  31 

lumnious  tongue,  did  this  destroyer  besmear  its  des- 

O  •/ 

tined  prey.  History  finds  it  still  in  a  measure  ad- 
hering to  the  memory  of  the  dead  who  died  in  the 
Lord  ;  and  with  it  finds  also  the  emphatic  solution 
of  what  mifjht  otherwise  be  embarrassing.  "  The 

O  ff 

disciple  is  not  above  his  Master,  nor  the  servant 
above  his  lord :  it  is  enough  for  the  disciple  that  he 
be  as  his  Master,  and  the  servant  as  his  lord.  If 
they  have  called  the  Master  of  the  house  Beelzebub, 
how  much  more  must  they  call  them  of  his  house- 
hold ?  Fear  them  not,  therefore  :  for  there  is  noth- 
ing covered  that  shall  not  be  revealed,  nor  hid  that 
shall  not  be  known." 

Abundantly  supplied  as  the  public  is  with  the  de- 
scriptions of  modern  travellers,  and  familiarized  too 
to  a  great  extent  by  personal  observation,  with  the 
theatre  of  this  most  unholy  war,  it  would  now  be 
superfluous  to  enter  upon  a  minute  geographical 
detail.  True  it  is,  that  some  of  our  most  entertain- 
ing tourists,  who  excel  in  the  minutiae  of  descrip- 
tion, contriving  to  bring  the  reader  acquainted  alike 
with  the  features  of  a  landscape  and  with  the  individ- 
uals who  people  it,  have  roamed  and  rested,  looked, 
and  sketched,  and  written  for  days  together,  in  the 
heart  of  that  scenery  where  it  might  be  supposed 
that  every  hill  and  valley,  every  streamlet  and  plain, 
every  old  gray  ruin,  and  rugged  mountain-pass, 
must  necessarily,  yea,  unavoidably,  call  up  the  most 
Ihrillingly-ta  aching  reminiscences  in  the  mind  of  a 


82  THE   CHURCH    OF   CHRIST 

Protestant,  pervading  the  narrative  with  congenial 
thoughts  and  images ;  yet  have  they  passed  over, 
as  things  unknown  or  unworthy  to  be  remembered, 
all  that  related  to  the  "  slaughtered  saints"  of  old. 
We  read  the  familiar  names  of  Toulouse  and  Foix, 
of  Bezieres  and  Carcassonne,  and  perhaps  feast  our 
eyes  on  some  spirited  sketch  of  their  general  out- 
lines and  venerable  remains  :  but  in  vain  do  we  seek 
for  a  passing  allusion  to  what  invests  them  with  an 
interest  so  deep  and  dear.  This  is  one  of  the  wor^t 
signs  of  that  indifferentism  which  is  eating  out  the 
very  life  of  our  national  religion,  and  smoothing  the 
way  of  approach  for  an  enemy  as  insidiously  noise- 
less now,  as  formerly  he  was  terrific  in  the  broad 
display  of  his  unbridled  ferocity. 

However,  with  so  many  sources  of  local  informa- 
tion open  to  all,  we  need  merely  to  glance  at  the 
outline  map  of  those  territories  through  which  the 
sword  of  bitter  persecution  cut  its  sanguinary  way. 
This  lay  within  the  Duchies  of  Aquitaine,  Gas- 
coigne  and  Narbonne ;  the  Marquisates  of  Toulouse 
and  Provence,  with  a  small  portion  of  Beam,  and  of 
Basse  Navarre.  It  included  the  petty  sovereignties 
of  Saintonge,  Limosin,  Perigord,  Auvergne,  Velay, 
Agen,  Quercy,  Rouergue,  Gevaudan,  and.Alby,  in 
Aquitaine ;  Bourdelois,  Armagnac,  P'ezensac,  As- 
tarac,  Bigorre,  Comminges,  and  Conserans,  in  Gas- 
coigne ;  Uzes,  Nismes,  Lodeve,  Maguelonne,  Be- 
ziers,  Agde,  Narbonne,  Fenouilledes,  and  Roussil- 
lon,  in  Narbonne  ;  Toulouse,  Carcassonne,  Rozes, 


IN    THE    TWELFTH    CENTURY.  33 

and  FoiA,  in  Toulouse ;  and  in  Provence,  Viennois, 
Valentinois,  Vivarois,  and  Aries.  The  southern 
boundary  of  this  memorable  district  is  lost  among 
the  mountain  masses  of  the  Pyrenees,  and  the  wa- 
ters of  the  Golf  de  Lion  :  clusters  of  those  majestic 
heights  also  stretching  along  the  eastern  borders  of 
Toulouse  and  Aquitaine,  and  cutting  across  the  lat- 
ter towards  the  north-west,  in  a  wild,  irregular 
ridge :  Narbonne,  and  the  eastern  side  of  the  boun- 
daries in  Provence,  are  likewise  mountainous :  the 
remaining,  and  by  far  the  larger  portion  of  the  scene 
of  war,  is  comparatively  a  level. 

Although  these  lands  all  lay  within  the  limits  of 
France,  the  powerful  lords  who  divided  them  among 
themselves  yieTded  allegiance,  some  to  England,  but 
the  greater  number  to  the  Spanish  king  of  Arragon. 
This,  however,  matters  little  to  our  purpose :  the 
contest  was  not  between  rival  monarchs,  nor  was  its 
object  the  occasion  of  territorial  dominion.  Not  the 
king  of  France,  but  the  bishop  of  Rome,  unfurled 
the  standard  of  exterminating  war ;  and  although 

o  o 

it  ended  in  establishing  the  rule  of  the  former  over 
a  desolate,  depopulated  country,  it  opened  with  no 
other  purpose  than  to  hunt  and  destroy  the  scat- 
tered sheep  of  Christ's  fold  :  in  scriptural  language, 
"  the  beast  made  war  with  the  saints  to  overcome 
them." 

Fertile,  beautiful,  and  undisturbed  by  internal  dis- 
sensions ;  the  land  was  as  the  garden  of  Eden  com- 
p-ired  with  wlnt  its  destroyers  made  it.  There  was, 


34  THE    CHUKCH    OF    CHRIST 

indeed,  too  much  of  outward  peace,  too  much  of 
carnal  security ,  and  of  the  luxuiious  indulgences 
that  always  prove  inimical  to  the  spiritual  welfare 
of  those  who  long  recline  in  the  sunshine  of  cloud- 
less prosperity.  The  Prdvencals  had  become  fa- 
mous throughout  Europe  for  the  refinement  of  their 
taste,  and  their  unrivalled  attainments  in  all  that 
art  and  literature  could  boast  in  an  age  of  over- 
spreading darkness,  the  natural  result  of  monkish 
superstition  and  prostration  of  intellect  beneath  the 
despotism  of  ecclesiastical  usurpation.  This  enlight- 
enment had  spread  into  surrounding  districts,  and 
blended  as  it  was  with  higher,  purer  rays  of  spirit- 
ual brightness,  unknown  in  other  lands,  we  cannot 
marvel  that  its  brilliancy  attracted  the  frowning  gaze 
of  those  who  hated  every  light  that  emanated  not 
from  the  sparks  of  their  own  kindling :  sparks  of  a 
fire  that  burns,  but  cannot  illuminate,  either  the 
spirit  or  the  mind. 

The  various  nobles  among  whom  the  land  was 
partitioned,  though  they  did  homage  to  the  mon- 
arch, each  reigned  as  a  king  over  his  own  portion. 
His  palace  was  a  castle,  generally  in  a  fortified 
town,  the  capital  of  his  little  state.  He  marshalled 
an  army  of  disciplined  vassals  and  free  citizens,  with 
their  knightly  commanders  and  officers ;  exercising 
alike  in  military  and  in  civil  matters  an  authority 
that  scarcely  brooked  the  intervention  of  any  higher 
power,  save  that  terrible  engine  of  universal  tyranny, 
"  the  Church,"  as  it  was  falsely  called.  Neither 


IN    THE    TWELFTH   CENTURY.  85 

befcre  the  sceptre  of  France,  nor  that  of  England, 
nor  of  Arragon,  nor  of  imperial  Germany,  did  the 
spirit  of  those  princely  nobles  quail :  allegiance  they 
owned,  and  each  was  ready,  on  demand,  to  head  an 
armed  force,  and  march  to  his  sovereign's  aid ;  or 
to  assist  in  his  councils,  or  promote  in  any  way 
his  royal  interests.  But  to  cow  them  into  trem- 
bling submission,  to  herd  them  together  like  frighted 
deer,  or  to  intimidate  them  severally  into  the  sur- 
render of  their  just  rights,  and  the  abandonment  of 
their  lawful  heritages  to  a  foreign  spoiler,  it  was 
needful  to  unfurl  the  banner  of  the  cross  against 
them :  to  invade  their  territories  by  a  company  of 
cowled  priests  ;  or  to  address  to  them  a  pastoral 
exhortation  from  one  who  called  himself  "  servant 
of  the  servants  of  God."  There  were  few,  if  any, 
among  them,  who  feared  man ;  there  were  few,  it  is 
to  be  apprehended,  who  feared  God  ;  but  if  there 
was  one  who  caused  it  to  be  surmised  that  he  feared 
not  the  bishop  of  Rome,  we  shall  presently  read  his 
name  and  history  in  characters  traced  by  his  own 
warm  life-blood. 

In  this  characteristic  feature  of  the  chiefs,  their 
people  participated  just  in  proportion  as  the  light 
of  the  Gospel  had  failed  to  penetrate  their  homes 
nnd  hearts.  They  were  all  attached  by  duty,  and 
the  majority  of  them  by  grateful  affection,  to  the 
reigning  nobles,  who  allowed  them  a  degree  of  re- 
ligious freedom  unknown  in  other  countries.  The 
higher  classes,  onscious  of  their  intellectual  supe« 


36  THE    CHURCH    OF   CHRIST 

riority,  viewed  with  disdain  the  ignorant  and  tazy 
monks,  who  droned  away  their  lives  ;  or  saw  with 
indignation  the  riotous  waste  in  which  the  enormous 
ecclesiastical  revenues  of  the  bishops  and  superior 
clergy  were  squandered,  while  the  natural  indepen- 
dence of  a  cultivated  mind  rose  against  their  assump- 
tions of  a  superiority,  that  on  no  grounds  whatever 
they  could  justly  claim.  The  lower  orders,  where 
the  knowledge  of  God  had  not  enabled  them  spirit- 
ually to  discern  the  utterly  anti-Christian  character 
of  the  whole  system,  were  yet  shocked  and  disgusted 
by  the  scandalous  profligacy  of  life  that  seemed  to 
cleave  as  a  badge  to  that  order  of  men  who,  on  the 
plea  of  peculiar  sanctity,  arrogated  to  themselves 
the  right  of  lording  it  over  their  faith  and  con- 
sciences. None  among  them  were  so  universally, 
or  so  deservedly  despised,  as  the  Romish  clergy  ;  it 
passed  into  a  proverb  :  "  I  would  rather  be  a  priest 
than  do  such  a  thing,"  was  the  most  indignant  form 
of  denial  on  the  part  of  any  person  accused  of  a 
criminal  or  disgraceful  action. 

This  gave  the  clrrgy  no  trouble  :  their  revenues 
•were  safe,  and  all  that  money  could  command  was 
within  their  grasp.  A  due  moasure  of  outward 
respect  was,  of  course,  accorded  to  the  bishop  or 
priest,  monk  or  friar,  when  he  appeared  ;  its  object 
being  the  office,  not  the  man.  When  the  Popes 
were  fighting  men,  and  open  unvarnished  debau- 
chees, it  could  not  be  expected  that  those  who 
formed  the  subordinate  members  where  they  were 


IN    THE   TWELFTH    jfiNTtTK".  37 

the  head,  should  strike  into  a  different  path.  It 
could  not  !>•  expected  that  the  harlot,  in  the  pride 
of  her  power,  glorying  in  her  shame,  her  head 
srowned  with  universal  dominion,  her  forehead 
branded  with  blasphemous  mystery,  her  eyes  glar- 
Tg  with  drunken  rnge,  her  cheeks  burning  with  un- 
holy fires,  and  her  hand  lifting  high  the  golden  cup 
of  abominations,  should  divest  some  of  her  limbs  of 
their  purple  and  scarlet  and  gems,  to  clothe  them  in 
linen  outwardly  white,  if  not  pure,  and  by  such  con- 
trast to  heighten  the  horrors  of  her  general  aspect. 
The  inhabitants  of  those  provinces  had  light  enough 
to  see  her  as  she  was,  and  hated  if  they  did  not  fear 
her. 

Oh  for  a  record,  a  sketch,  a  fragment  of  history 
pertaining  to  the  Church  of  Christ  in  those  days,  and 
in  that  region,  unblotted  by  the  foul  pen  of  calumny 
and  triumphant  revenge  !  In  vain  do  we  sigh  for 
such  a  relic ;  the  besom  of  destruction  swept  too 
effectually  over  the  devoted  tract ;  and  we  have  no 
archives  to  search — nothing  but  the  book  which  an 
enemy  hath  written,  to  guide  us  in  tracing  the  foot- 
steps of  the  flock  through  that  dark  valley  of  the 
shadow  of  death. 

Yet  imagination  can  conceive  without  overstep- 
ping the  bounds  of  sober  probability,  what  was  the 
daily  life  of  a  Christian  family  under  the  nominal 
sway  of  Antichrist.  Long  neglect  on  the  part  of 
the  Roman  Pontiffs,  who  were  usually  engaged  in 
more  important  conquests,  or  immersed  in  sensuality 
4 


33  fttE  CtttfRCM  Ofr   CMtsT 

beyond  the  power  of  rousing  themselves,  had  pefi 
mitted  the  Gospel  to  take  deep  root,  to  spread 
widely,  and  to  bear  much  fruit  over  a  varied  tract 
of  country.  In  high  places,  in  the  cathedrals  and 
parish-churches,  all  went  on  as  usual.  Images  were 
set  in  every  niche,  tapers  lighted  before  their  shrines, 
votive  gifts  suspended  round  them  ;  and  all  the  ser« 
vices  of  the  Romish  ritual  duly  celebrated.  Here, 
at  stated  hours,  sat  the  priest  in  the  confessional, 
ready  to  dispense  absolution  to  sinners  on  the  accus- 
tomed terms:  there  hung  the  pix,  over  the  high  al* 
tar,  containing  a  wafer,  to  which  the  special  tidoni' 
tion  due  to  '  Saint  Sacrament'  might  always  be  di- 
rected :  there  the  mass  was  sung,  the  censer  smoked, 
the  holy  water  flew  right  and  left,  sprinkled  by  the 
hand  of  priestly  benediction :  and  there,  at  the  accus- 
tomed seasons,  appeared  the  reigning  count,  with 
his  knights,  burgesses,  vassals,  and  a  goodly  assem- 
blage of  worshippers,  all  devoutly  engaged,  so  far  aa 
externals  went,  in  worshipping  they  knew  not  what. 
No  doubt,  many  prostrated  themselves  there  who 
secretly  held  a  purer  faith ;  and  who,  if  any  of  the 
rulers  had  openly  professed  a  scriptural  belief  in 
Christ,  would  gladly  have  acknowledged  him  too, — • 
but  of  these  we  cannot  speak,  otherwise  than  by  a 
reference  to  our  Lord's  emphatic  warning,  "  Whoso- 
ever shall  confess  me  before  men.  him  will  1  confess 
also  before  my  Father  which  is  in  heaven  ;  but  who- 
soever shall  deny  me  before  men,  him  will  I  also  deny 
before  my  Father  v  hich  is  in  heaven." 


Ifl    THE    TWELFTH   cENTim?.  39 


There  were  some  who  thus  openly  confessed  their 
crucified  Lord,  and  they  were  numerous.  These 
gave  no  heed  to  the  noisy  chimes  that  summoned 
them  to  a  strange  worship  :  they  passed  by  the  opon 
doors  of  each  conspicuous  temple,  rendering  no  hom- 
age to  the  idol  crucifix,  taking  no  notice  of  the  con- 
secrated water,  muttering  no  prayer  to  departed 
saints,  nor  deeming  that  aught  of  holiness  belonged 
either  to  the  building  or  to  any  of  the  uses  to  whith 
it  was  applied.  Quietly  they  pursued  their  way,  the 
father  with  his  matronly  partner  on  his  arm,  the 
brother  leading  the  sister,  and  the  little  ones  of  the 
household  treading  with  subdued  looks  in  the  foot- 
prints of  those  who  preceded  them.  We  may  fol- 
low them,  as  they  pass  along,  now  jostled  by  the 
giddy  group  who  are  hurrying  to  come  in  for  a  share 
of  the  unmeaning  services  that  speak  neither  to  the 
heart,  nor  to  the  conscience,  nor  to  the  understand- 
ing ;  nor  can  exert  the  slightest  influence  either  of 
direction  or  restraint,  over  the  course  of  their  wasted 
lives-—  now  smiled  iipon  by  a  passing  friend,  who  knows 
and  respects  their  scriptural  principles,  but  lacks 
courage  to  turn  and  accompany  them,  —  -now  greeted 
by  the  whispered  blessing  of  a  neighbor,  who  hopes 
ere  evening's  close  to  swell  the  hymn  of  praise  that 
will  issue  from  their  lips.  On  they  go,  grieving 
over  the  desecrating  frivolities,  or  the  eager  spirit  of 
worldly  business,  that  perpetually  break  down  the 
barriers  placed  by  the  Lord  around  his  day  of  rest  ; 
and  which,  strong  as  adamant,  in  the  view  of  a  be- 


40  THE   CHURCH   OF   CHRIST 

lievev,  are  regarded  by  the  disciples  of  Rome  as  colv 
web  threads,  intrusively  thrown  across  their  path. 

Our  Albigensic  patriarch  has  now  conducted  his 
little  party  beyond  the  utmost  boundary  of  the  vil- 
lage town  ;  and  very  lovely  is  the  landscape  tha 
opens  to  their  eye,  resting  in  that  sweet  Sabbath 
repose  which  is  breathed  upon  it  neither  from  the 
Bkies  above,  nor  from  the  earth  beneath,  but  from 
the  heart  of  him  who  contemplates  it  through  the 
medium  of  a  divine  ordinance.  The  sunbeam  seems 
to  fall  more  broadly,  the  trees  to  spread  more  grace- 
fully their  welcome  shade.  The  hills  rise,  as  if  as- 
piring to  an  altitude  that  should  bring  them  nearer 
heaven ;  the  little  flowers  deck  the  earth  as  though 
to  brighten  her  Sunday  robe  ;  and  the  streamlet  as 
il  murmurs  by,  speaks  of  the  bounteous  hand  that 
bade  it  gush  for  man's  refreshment.  Far  as  the  e}e 
can  reach,  the  vineyards  stretch  along  the  hilly  slope, 
spreading  their  clusters  to  the  ray  ;  and  then,  on 
the  other  side,  a  strip  of  level  land  is  covered  with 
verdant  pasturage,  where  the  flock  and  the  herd 
browse  unmolested,  and  for  a  time  un  watched  ;  for 
the  shepherd  boy  has  asked  and  gained  a  few  hours' 
holiday,  not  that  he  may  join  in  the  gambols  of  some 
thoughtless  group,  intent  only  on  making  themnelves 
merry,  but  because  he  loves  the  company  of  those 
who  forsake  not  the  assembling  of  themselves  to- 
gether for  purposes  congenial  to  the  hallowed  sea- 
Bon. 

D  "wn  in  yonder  shad  id  nook,  where  the   broad 


.N    THE    TWELFTH    CENTURY.  41 

chestnut  spreads  his  venerable  branches,  and  forms  a 
graceful  canopy,  an  open  shed  stands,  lightly  thatch- 
ed, and  forming  a  shelter,  in  the  grape  season,  for 
f.ome  of  the  operations  connected  with  that  branch 
of  agriculture.  Here,  on  seats  as  rustic  and  as  va- 
rious as  could  well  be  collected  together,  are  placed 
a  number  of  females  of  every  age,  generally,  though 
not  exclusively,  of  humble  station,  who  wait  in  so- 
ber silence,  or  in  pleasant  converse  on  holy  subjects, 
the  completion  of  their  party.  Men,  youths,  and 
boys  are  scattered  about ;  some  seated  on  the  ground, 
some  leaning  against  the  light  pillars  of  the  shed, 
others  pacing  the  green  sward,  in  quiet,  yet  anima- 
ted discourse  on  the  things  that  belong  unto  then 
peace.  Our  pedestrians  take  their  accustomed  sta- 
tion, and  shortly  after  their  arrival,  appears  the  pas-*- 
tor  of  the  expectant  flock.  He  has  no  robing-room, 
no  sacristy,  to  screen  his  mysterious  preparations 
for  the  office  whereunto  the  Lord  hath  called  him. 
Clad  in  the  simplest  habiliments  of  a  travelling 
dealer  in  miscellaneous  wares,  with  manners  as  art- 
less as  his  apparel  is  unstudied,  and  wearing  as  his 
only  badge  of  office,  that  crown  of  glory  which  a 
hoary  head  found  in  the  way  of  righteousness  con- 
fers on  its  possessor,  he  advances  with  looks  of  beam- 
ing affection,  and  gives  the  salutation  of  "  Peace  be 
to  you,"  which  every  heart  and  every  tongue  re- 
echoes with  an  application  to  himself. 

He  has  been  on  an  embassy,  through  many  leagues 
of  territory,  bartering  his  simple  wares,  and  using 
4* 


42  THE    CHURCH    OF    CHRIST 

the  opportunities  thus  obtained  for  speaking  the 
Gospel  of  the  grace  of  God  in  many  a  mansion 
where  such  language  was  never  heard  before.  He 
has  trod  the  stately  halls  of  the  proud  chateau,  and 
while  his  fabric  of  home-made  lace  attracted  the 
eye  of  the  courtly  dame,  he  has  filled  her  ear  with 
sounds  most  strangely  new  ;  even  that  God  so  loved 
the  world  as  to  give  his  own  Son,  to  die  for  sinners 
like  her ;  and  that  "  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ 
cleanseth  from  ALL  sin  ;"  and  on  that  mighty  "  all " 
he  has  expatiated,  until  the  pilgrimages  and  pen- 
ances, and  purgatorial  fires  of  Rome's  lucrative  fable 
seemed  as, — what  they  are — a  mocking  lie,  to  cheat 
the  soul  of  its  free  and  full  salvation.  Many  a  sweet 
tale  has  the  missionary  peddler  to  tell,  of  "  seed  sown 
in  desolate  places;"  and  then  they  all  kneel  down, 
and  pray  to  Him  that  sitteth  in  the  heavens,  that  He 
will  cause  the  gentle  dew  of  His  spirit  to  fall,  and 
fertilize  the  ground,  until  plants  arise,  and  fruit  ap- 
pear, to  His  glory. 

After  this,  songs  of  praise  are  sung :  confession 
of  sin  is  made  to  Him  who  "  willeth  not  the  death 
of  a  sinner ;"  and  many  a  sob  of  repentance  is  turned 
into  the  prayer  of  believing  hope,  as  the  sure  word 
of  promise  is  dwelt  upon,  and  its  balm  applied  to 
the  wounded  conscience.  They  strengthen  them- 
selves in  the  Lord  ;  they  build  themselves  up  on 
their  most  holy  faith  ;  and  with  eager  delight  they 
listen  to  the  well-worn  manuscript  again  produced 
for  their  edification,  where  a  portion  of  the  inspired 


IN    TIIE    TWELFTH    CENTURV.  46 

word  was  inscribed  by  the  hand  of  a  faithful  copier, 
who  found  the  original  document  becoming  illegi- 
ble from  constant  use.  This  leads  to  exhoitation, 
founded  on  the  word  ;  and  again  they  pray,  again 
they  join  their  voices  in  a  chorus  of  praise,  that  the 
little  hills  around  them  seem  delighted  to  adopt,  re- 
echoing it  in  half-breathed  echoes  of  their  own. 

O 

Much  is  said  of  the  evils  among  which  they  dwell ; 
much  of  the  wolfish  character  of  some  who  assume 
the  clothing  of  sheep.  Words  of  warning  are 
spoken  to  the  young ;  words  of  encouragement  to 
all. 

Perchance  even  in  that  little  congregation  some 
unsuspected  traitor  might  lurk,  taking  heed  to  what 
was  said,  not  for  his  soul's  profit,  but  for  the  de- 
struction of  his  companions.  Some  there  might 
also  be,  as  yet  sincere  in  their  profession,  who  would 
when  the  storm  fell  upon  them,  flee  from  the  shel- 
tering Rock  to  rest  on  a  fleshly  arm,  and  perish. 
But  to  the  Searcher  of  hearts  alone,  were  the  hearts 
of  the  little  assemblage  laid  open :  only  the  eye  of 
Omniscience  could  descry  their  future  path  ;  and  as 
they  separated,  to  wend  in  groups,  or  singly,  along 
the  diversified  paths  of  that  sunny  landscape,  they 
looked  as  peaceful,  and  as  fearless  of  approaching 
harm,  as  the  quiet  goats  that  browsed  on  the  hill- 
side, and  scarcely  raised  an  eye  to  glance  at  the  ap- 
proaching wayfarers. 

They  passed  a  stone  cr<  ss,  rudely  constructed, 
perhaps,  with  its  attendant  niche  for  the  statue  of 


44  THE    CHURCH    OF    CHRIST 

Jie  Virgin.  No  hat  was  raised,  no  head  or  knee 
was  bowed  ;  no  imaginary  cross  was  figured  on  the 
breast.  What  had  they  lo  do  with  idols,  who  had 
been  worshipping  the  living  God  in  the  spirit,  and 
in  the  beauty  of  holiness '?  They  passed  on,  and 
sought  their  several  hvellings.  Scattered  over  the 
earth,  of  which  they  were  the  salt,  they  withstood, 
in  their  quiet  efficiency,  the  spreading  of  corruption, 
Woe  lo  the  land  where  such  salt  hath  lost  its 


CHAPTER  II. 

ANTICHRIST. 

WE  now  change  the  scene.  No  longer  by  the 
mountain-side,  or  down  into  the  valley,  or  through 
green  pastures  and  among  clustering  vines  lies  oui 
secluded  path  :  halls  of  grandeur,  surpassing  the 
ordinary  work  of  man,  rich  with  Parian  marble,  in- 
terspersed with  ivory  and  alabaster ;  sumptuous 
hangings,  where  mouldings  of  burnished  gold  peep 
forth  amid  the  sweeping  festoons  of  purple  and 
crimson  ;  tapestry,  the  rarest  that  could  be  culled 
from  Saracenic  spoils ;  and  sculpture  of  unequalled 
beauty,  in  every  form  that  art  might  borrow  from 
creation's  wonders, — all  this,  and  more  than  all  that 
modern  fancy  may  body  forth  from  the  luxurious 
shadows  of  antique  magnificence,  we  shall  encoun- 
ter while  pacing  the  wide  saloons,  and  vaulted  cor- 
ridors, and  mounting  the  broad  marble  stairs,  all 
studded  with  the  trophies  of  a  prostrate  world,  in 
a  thousand  varied  forms  of  costliness  and  grace 
But  among  them  we  will  not  pause ;  the  foot  falls 
noiselessly  now  on  carpets  of  delicate  texture,  a 
luxury  unknowji  as  y-t  in  many  king's  houses;  and 


46  ANTICHRIST. 

we  approach  a  retired  apartment,  A'here  splendor 
holds  but  the  second  rank,  its  prominent  feature 
being  that  of  studious  comfort  and  convenience,  in 
their  most  perfect  manifestation.  The  mellow  light 
falls  softly  on  a  spacious  board  formed  of  some 
precious  wood,  and  covered  with  purple  cloth,  of 
which  the  golden  fringe  nearly  sweeps  the  ground  ; 
and  this  is  piled  with  manuscripts,  and  documents 
of  various  bulk,  from  the  thick  volume  of  Roman 
and  of  Grecian  lore,  to  the  familiar  letter,  and  its 
half-completed  ~eply  now  thrown  aside  for  more  im- 
portant avocation. 

And  who  is  he,  the  presiding  spirit  of  the  stu- 
dious, solitary  sct-ne  ?  There  is  that  in  it  and  in 
him  which  bespeaks  him  lord  of  the  palace  through 
which  we  have  trod ;  master  of  the  mighty  accu- 
mulation of  wealth,  and  luxury,  and  voluptuous 
gratifications.  The  guards  who,  in  gorgeous  at- 
tire, passed  and  repassed  before  the  stately  portals 
of  this  royal  abode,  were  surely  guarding  him :  the 
throng  of  officials  hovering  about  us  as  we  came 
along,  were  doing  his  will  and  waiting  his  com- 
mands :  the  singing-men  and  singing-women,  whose 
melodious  voices  we  heard  in  rehearsal  of  their  eve- 
ning's task,  were  preparing  strains  of  harmony  to 
delight  his  ear  :  the  glittering  preparations  of  a  ban- 
quet fitted  for  an  assemblage  of  eastern  monarchs, 
were  surely  made  that  he  might  feast,  while  the 
tabret,  and  the  viol,  and  the  song,  heightened  the 
sensual  allurement*  of  the  hour.  There  is  nelhing 


ANTICHRIST.  47 

hat  the  lust  of  the  flesh  can  crave,  nothing  to  sati- 
ate the  lust  of  the  eye,  nothing  that  the  haughtiest 
pride  of  living  man  may  grasp  to  elevate  him  on  the 
pinnacle  of  human  greatness,  and  lap  him  in  the 
fullest  enjoyment  of  mortal  delights,  but  we  have 
traced  it,  spread  within  the  beck  of  this  man.  Yet 
his  aspect  is  not  that  of  a  reveller ;  the  line  traced 
on  a  cheek  still  fresh  with  the  bloom  of  young  life, 
has  not  been  imprinted  there  by  the  finger  of  de- 
bauchery ;  the  fire  of  the  drunkard  is  not  that  which 
flashes  from  his  dark  Italian  eye  ;  and  the  tonsured 
head,  from  which  the  silken  cap  is  laid  aside  that 
the  soft  breeze  from  yonder  open  casement  may  fan 
its  circle  of  raven  locks,  bespeaks  a  character  of 
elevated  tone,  deep  thought,  expansive  intellect, 
and  a  resolve  that  mocks  the  idle  dream  of  opposi- 
tion. 

That  man  is  Lotharius,  Count  de  Signi,  and  his 
•»ideed  is  all  that  we  have  described  and  surmised, 
••'his  haughty  palace,  with  all  its  magnificence  is  his; 
ind  at  his  command,  every  gratification  that  sense 
jan  crave  is  ready  to  surround  him.  But  such  is  not 
his  choice  ;  he  aims  at  a  wider  mark,  and  will  seize 
a,  mightier  prey. 

Rudely  sketched  on  a  skin  of  vellum,  according 
to  the  imperfect  knowledge  of  those  days,  there  lies 
beside  him  a  chart  of  the  world :  and  he  will  not 
pause,  n»r  slack  his  hand,  while  throughout  its 
boundaries  there  exists  a  state  unconscious  of  hia 
po  wer,  or  diiring  to  raise  an  obstacle  in  the  path  of 


48  ANTICHRIST. 

his  supreme  will.  Mark  him,  as  with  sternly  placid 
brow  he  bends  over  the  paper  spread  before  him, 
and  engrosses  with  steady  energy  the  customary 
commencement  of  a  fulmination,  at  sight  of  which 
some  monarch  shall  quake  upon  his  throne,  "  INNO- 
CENT, servant  of  the  servants  of  God."  Few  months 
have  passed  since  the  triple  tiara  was  placed  upon 
his  head,  and  the  forged  keys  committed  to  his  reso- 
lute grasp ;  and  already  has  he  caused  it  to  be  felt 
throughout  Europe,  that  a  master's  hand  has  seized 
the  reins  of  spiritual  dominion,  with  full  purpose  of 
adding  thereto  the  utmost  stretch  of  temporal  des- 
potism. He  is  preparing  for  a  vast  campaign  ;  his 
battle-field  is  the  wide  earth  ;  and  knowing  that  by 
the  salt  of  the  earth  alone  can  the  universal  corrup- 
tion that  he  purposes  to  establish  be  resisted  ;  his 
preliminary  work  must  be  to  remove  that  salt :  his 
opening  war  is  a  "  War  with  the  Saints." 

Look  again  ;  view  him  by  the  light  of  Holy  Writ, 
and  the  pleasant  beam  of  day  will  fade  upon  your 
eye,  and  the  terrible  fire  of  God's  wrath  will  be  seen 
to  wrap  him  round,  as  a  cloak ;  as  the  garment  with 
which  he  is  girded.  You  see  before  you  the  Man 
of  Sin.  the  Son  of  Perdition,  engaged  in  his  fore- 
shown work  of  opposing  and  exalting  himself:  one 
whose  coming  is  after  the  working  of  Satan  ;  and 
whose  office  it  is  by  all  means  to  extinguish  the  light 
that  is  hated  by  th«:  prince  of  darkness.  In  himself, 
a  weak,  a  dying  man,  how  terrible,  how  "  strong  nx 
ceedingly,"  he  becomes,  invested  with  the  power, 


ANTICHRIST.  49 

and  enthroned  as  the  vicegerent  of  tne  god  of  this 
world !  He  has  passed  from  among  the  crowd  of 
common  rebels  to  assume  that  fearful  headship  that 
maintains  a  succession  of  men,  as  it  were  one  man, 
in  that  place  where  the  dragon  hath  given  him  "  his 
power,  and  seat,  and  great  authority."  He  holds 
them  now  ;  beneath  him,  and  around  him,  swell  the 
seven  hills  of  "  that  great  city  which  ruleth  over  the 
kings  of  the  earth."  The  very  demons  to  whom  the 
Pagans  of  ancient  Rome  burnt  incense  and1  sacrificed, 
are  there  upon  their  pedestals ;  their  titles  only  be- 
ing changed,  to  those  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and 
his  apostles,  and  the  lowly  virgin  of  whose  mortal 
substance  his  human  body  Avas  made  ;  while  an 
honor  no  less  idolatrous  is  still  rendered  to  the 
senseless  blocks.  There,  where  the  river  of  mystic 
Babylon,  the  Tiber,  rolls  sluggishly  along,  the  cap- 
tives of  Judah  sit  and  weep,  in  sorrow  that  the 
lapse  of  nearly  twelve  centuries  has  not  mitigated, 
but  rather  increased ;  for  the  sword  of  papal  Rome 
is  keener,  and  her  scourge  more  knotted,  than  when 
the  sanguinary  heathen  wielded  them  over  the  ex- 
iled and  afflicted  people  of  the  Lord.  Neither  in 
name  nor  in  nature,  is  Rome  changed :  the  wolf's 
milk  seems  yet  to  sustain  the  savage  principle 
within ;  and  the  stain  of  fratricidal  blood  that  moist- 
ened her  first  foundations,  yet  stands,  indelible  as 
the  mark  of  Cain,  perpetually  renewed  upon  hef 
orow. 

But  this  man,  this  Innocent,  what  is  he  about  f 
5 


50  ANTICHRIST. 

Enthroned  as  the  deputed  minister  of  Satan,  but 
blasphemously  assuming  to  be  the  representative  of 
Christ,  he  is  about  exercising  the  power  of  the  Evil 
One  under  the  name  of  the  Most  Holy  One.  He 
has  glanced  over  the  rough  chart  beside  him,  and 
revolved  in  his  penetrating,  comprehensive  mind, 
the  internal  affairs  of  each  several  kingdom ;  and  he 
perceives  that,  to  carry  out  his  ambitious  designs, 
he  must  unite  the  various  sovereigns  in  some  gen- 
eral object,  which,  while  in  itself  calculated  to  min- 
ister to  his  ambitious  purposes,  shall  also  divert 
their  attention  and  withdraw  their  military  force,  if 
not  their  personal  superintendence  also,  from  their 
respective  territories.  The  destined  theatre  of  this 
simultaneous  movement  is  Palestine — whitened  as 
its  strickened  plains  and  desolate  mountains  are  with 
the  bones  of  former  victims,  immolated  in  the  insane 
crusades.  Insane  indeed  they  were,  as  regards  their 
ostensible  object,  held  as  real  by  the  dupes  who  un- 
dertook them  ;  but  deeply  politic  as  planned  by  those 
who,  while  stirring  up  the  minds  of  their  unconscious 
tools  to  the  seemingly  pious  enterprise  of  rescuing 
the  holy  city  from  its  paynim  lords,  really  aimed  at 
the  triumphant  establishment  of  Rome's  supremacy 
throughout  the  East,  on  the  wrecks  of  the  Grecian 
Empire. 

But  to  this  man  of  sin,  and  of  iniquitous  mystery, 
it  would  seem  a  small  matter  to  arm  another  cru- 
sade, however  extensive  and  powerful,  if,  while  the 
princes  gf  Europe  were  employed,  at  the  head  of 


ANTICHRIST.  51 

their  armaments,  in  extending  the  empire  of  the 
mighty  lie  abroad,  truth  should  continue  to  make 
its  quiet  way  among  the  homesteads  of  their  several 
domains.  Innocent  III.  was  not  the  man  to  over- 
look the  infancy  of  aught  that  might  grow  to  a  dan- 
gerous form,  if  left  to  mature  itself;  he  knew  that  a 
single  copy  of  the  word  of  God,  privately  circulated 
in  a  rural  district,  might  shake  the  pillars  of  his 
throne,  and  grind  his  gigantic  power  into  dust.  He 
therefore  determined  that  the  first  crusade  under- 
taken by  his  command,  should  be  by  each  prince 
against  his  own  subjects,  wheresoever  the  faintest 
glimmering  of  a  true  faith  had  been  detected  through- 
out his  realms  of  darkness.  Already  had  the  flames 
of  martyrdom  begun  to  light  the  sky,  in  places 
where  the  number  of  suspected  believers  was  very 
small,  and  where  they  were  easily  marked  out,  and 
arraigned  on  false  charges,  and  put  to  death  with- 
out exciting  either  compassion  or  resentment  in  the 
blinded  multitudes  around  them.  The  German  em- 
peror had  also  placed  in  his  hands  an  edict  for  the 
destruction  of  those  among  his  subjects  in  Italy, 
who,  under  the  name  of  Paterini,  or  Gazari,  were 
distinguished  as  dissenting  in  many  points  from  the 
creed  of  Rome  ;  and  where,  as  in  some  instances  it 
occurred,  the  lords  who  ruled  in  the  provinces 
showed  a  disposition  to  protect  this  class  of  their 
subjects,  whom  they  had  ever  found  the  most 
peaceful,  loyal,  and  industrious,  the  crafty  pontiff 
neutralized  their  opposition  by  tempting  their  ava- 


52  ANTICHEIST. 

rice  on  the  one  hand,  and  on  the  other  exciting 
their  fears.  He  consigned  to  them,  as  a  legal  for- 
feiture, the  entire  possessions  of  all  whom  they  should 
destroy  as  heretics ;  and  he  denounced  against  them 
the  penalty  of  excommunication  in  the  event  of  their 
favoring  the  escape  of  a  suspected  schismatic.  Where 
the  bribe  might  have  failed,  the  menace  triumphed ; 
for,  howsoever  lightly  some  of  the  barons  might  have 
regarded  the  papal  malediction  in  its  sphitual  char- 
acter, they  well  knew  that  its  promulgation  would 
authorize  and  ev.m  enjoin  every  neighboring  lord  to 
invade  and  depose, — every  vassal  under  their  rule 
to  waylay  and  assassinate  them. 

So  far  successful,  within  the  first  year  of  Ins  pon- 
tificate, has  the  man  now  before  us  been ;  and  the 
augury  of  future  triumph  sits  upon  his  brow. 
"Innocent,  servant  of  the  servants  of  God  "  is  pre- 
paring credentials  for  his  chosen  emissaries,  now 
about  to  depart  for  the  province  of  Narbonne,  which 
has  occasioned  him  some  anxiety  since  the  report  of 
numerous  spies  confirmed  his  suspicion  that,  the 
truth  had  taken  strong  and  deep  root  in  that  prov- 
ince, and  he  has  matured  his  plan  for  destroying  it. 
In  that  document,  lengthening  under  his  rapid  pen- 
manship, you  might  read  the  commission  to  be  con. 
ferred  on  his  two  delegates,  the  powers  with  which 
he  prepares  to  arm  them  ;  the  germ,  in  fact,  of  that 
terrible  after-growth,  the  Inquisition,  of  which  he  i» 
to  be  the  actual  author:  and  as  he  pauses  for  the  ink 
to  dry  up«  n  its  surface,  he  spares  another  momen- 


ANTICHRIST.  53 

tary  glance  to  the  world's  outline,  whereon  his  bound- 
less lust  of  aggrandizement  delights  to  expatiate; 
where  he  thinks  to  change  times  and  laws  ;  where  he 
will  depose  and  create  err pcrors,  and  play  with  regal 
crowns  as  with  nursery  toys.  The  East — he  will 
overrun  and  grasp  it  yet:  the  Germanic  Empire 
shall  own  no  head  but  of  his  selecting :  that  little 
speck,  denoting  England, — he  will  curb  its  restless 
spirit  of  independence,  and  render  its  trophied 
crown  a  football  for  his  legate.  France,  Spain, 
Hungary,  the  whole  circle  of  surrounding  dominions, 
shall  be  as  a  nest  of  unfledged  eagles,  upon  which 
the  dark  shadow  of  his  vulture-power  shall  rest, 
until  he  can  say  of  the  terrified  inmates,  "  There 
was  none  that  peeped,  nor  moved  the  wing,  nor  mut- 
tered." 

Strange  that  a  mortal  man  should  possess,  and 
have  permission  to  exercise,  a  power  so  vast  and  so 
destructive  !  It  would  appear  yet  more  strange  to  us, 
if  we  held  not  in  our  hands  the  solution  of  the  mys- 
tery ;  his  coming  is  after  the  working  of  Satan  ;  and 
his  is  "  the  power,  the  seat,  and  the  great  author- 
ity," held  for  the  moment  by  that  selected  vicege- 
rent. -We  must  recall  the  scene  of  conflict,  when 
our  holy  Lord  Jesus  was  led  of  the  Spirit  into  the 
wilderness  to  be  tempted  of  the  Devil,  and  remem- 
ber the  magnificent  bribe  that  was  set  before  Him : 
"  All  the  kingdoms  of  the  world,  and  the  glory  of 
them,"  which  were  certainly,  in  a  degree  to  us  inex- 
plicable, at  the  disposal  of  the  Evil  One,  "the  piince 
5* 


54  ANTICHRIST. 

of  this  world,"  as  our  Lord  himself  designated  him' 
and  still  retaining  such  a  mighty  power  and  influence, 
even  after  the  triumphant  resurrection  and  ascension 
of  his  Conqueror,  that  the  apostle  could  style  him 
"the  gid  of  this  world,"  and  represent  him  as  taking 
captive  at  his  will  such  as  fell  into  his  snares. 
While,  therefore,  we  contemplate  the  individual  who, 
as  in  the  very  wantonness  of  mockery,  chose  the 
official  appellation  of  "  Innocent,"  in  which  to  blaxon 
forth  his  sanguinary  guilt,  let  us  remember  that  we 
look  upon  an  incarnation  of  Satan  himself;  one  into 
whom,  as  into  Judas  of  old,  the  evil  spirit  had  en- 
tered, stimulating  weak  mortality  to  the  almost  un- 
imaginable supremacy  in  crime,  that  could  find  in 
the  Creator  and  Redeem;  r  of  the  world,  an  object  of 
barter  and  sale.  We  are  not  to  inquire,  what  could 
Lotharius  de  Signi  achieve  ?  but  what  could  the 
fallen  archangel  accomplish,  when  working  in  and 
by  a  rare  combination  of  those  physical  and  intel- 
lectual capacities  which  were  originally  fashioned  in 
divine  perfection,  to  show  forth  the  glory  and  the 
majesty  of  Him  in  whose  image  man  was  created  j 
and  which  still,  in  the  wreck  that  sin  has  reduced 
them  to,  bear  splendid  marks  of  what  they  once 
have  been?  What  must  that  be  in  the  fierceness 
and  pride  of  its  unresisted  power,  over  which  in  its 
destined  fall  all  heaven  is  summoned  to  rejoice ! 

There  is  an  awful  and  a  terrible  interest  in  the 
scene — it  can  scarcely  be  called  an  imaginary  one—- 
where we  seem  to  linger.  The  gorgeousness  of  the 


ANTICHRIST.  5ft 

palace,  he  features  of  boundless  voluptuousness 
that  every v  hero  prevail,  save  in  the  aspect  of  its 
present  lord,  whose  soul  is  surrendered  to  the  rule 
of  sterner  passions  ;  the  utter  absence  of  all  that 
might  be  construed  into  a  semblance  of  pure  and 
undefiled  religion  ;  the  proud,  glaring,  gaudy  con- 
trast  to  the  subdued,  unworldly  spirit  of  the  doctrine 
taught  by  Him  who  was  meek  and  lowly  of  heart, 
and  by  the  simple,  unlearned  men  whom  He  com- 
missioned to  make  known  to  all  the  world  the  great 
mystery  of  godliness  :  these  things  would  strike  the 
mind  as  remarkable,  even  were  Rome  still  pagan  in 
name,  and  the  idols  that  she  worships  invoked  by 
their  original  names  of  Jupiter,  Mars,  Bacchus, 
Venus,  and  the  other  obscene  characters  of  a  foul 
mythology.  But  this  is  not  so :  the  pride,  the  sen- 
suality, the  sloth,  the  unbounded  wickedness  that 
surround  us,  are  exhibited  to  the  world  as  the  ad- 
juncts of  Christianity ;  yea,  to  such  an  extent,  that 
to  question  the  Divine  authority  here  assumed,  to 
doubt  whether  the  remorseless  homicide  before  us  is 
indeed  the  chosen  and  anointed  delegate  of  Christ, 
exercising  the  fulness  of  His  power,  and  being  head 
over  all  things  to  His  body  the  Church,  is  "heresy," 
punishable  with  a  cruel  death.  Perchance  some 
wasted  form  may  cross  our  path,  some  poor  con- 
science-stricken sinner,  who  tries  to  overcome  the 
tremblings  occasioned  by  a  fearful  looking-for  of 
judgment  and  fiery  indignation  that  awaits  the  trans- 
gressor, by  fastings  and  penances,  and  vigils  that 


Ob  ANTICHRIST. 

have  dwindled  his  body  to  a  shadow,  but  can  bring 
no  ray  of  peace  or  hope  to  his  despairing  mind :  yet 
still  he  toils  on,  in  the  weary  path,  and  beholds  a 
distant  refuge  in  the  promised  absolution  of  this 
pretender  to  heavenly  powers.  Alas!  the  victim  is 
perishing  with  a  lie  in  his  right  hand. 

The  task  is  done  :  the  pontiff  rapidly  skims  over 
it,  and,  resuming  his  cap,  arranging  his  robe,  and 
gathering  about  him  a  dignity  needful  for  the  occa- 
sion, gives  a  summons  that  is  speedily  obeyed  by 
the  entrance  of  two  ecclesiastics,  who,  with  the  low- 
liest reverence  that  man  can  pay  to  a  superior  being, 
approach  within  some  paces  of  their  brother  of  the 
dust ;  and  there  they  stand,  with  heads  bowed  down 
while  the  pontifical  blessing  is  pronounced  with  that 
impressiveness  which  a  master  mind  will  impart  to 
the  action,  albeit  the  spirit  may  have  no  part  there- 
in. After  a  pause,  he  bids  them  be  seated  ;  and 
conscious  of  their  value  in  his  eyes,  as  chosen  emis- 
saries in  a  somewhat  difficult  field  of  labor,  they  lay 
aside  the  embarrassing  sense  of  a  presumed  unap- 
proachable distance,  which  probably  they  do  not 
feel,  and  listen  while  Innocent  breathes  forth  the 
paternal  sorrows  of  his  heart,  over  the  wrongs  in- 
flicted on  their  holy  religion  by  heretics  who  corrupt 
the  faith,  and  draw  others  aside  from  the  right  way. 
In  all  his  pious  affliction,  brother  Guy,  and  brother 
Regnier  sympathize,  declaring  with  what  eagerness 
they  have  obeyed  his  mandate,  leaving  the  cloistered 
solitudes  of  Citeaux,  and  all  the  peaceful  privilege! 


ANTICHRIST*  51 

of  monkish  lite,  to  do  his  bidding  as  good  sol- 
diers of  the  cross,  m  the  unsettled  province  of  Nar- 
bonne. 

Then  follow  their  instructions ;  and  marvellous  it 
fe,  how  soon  the  tones  of  pious  lamentation  strength- 
ex:  and  deepen  into  those  of  most  energetic  com- 
mand. The  pontiff  shows  himself  intimately  ac- 
quainted with  the  nature  and  the  seat  of  the  malady, 
and  most  unflinchingly  decided  as  to  the  mode  of 
care.  They  are  to  traverse  the  infected  districts, 
and  by  every  means  that  power,  craft,  wealth,  and 
skill  can  supply,  to  discover  the  holders  of  hereti- 
cal doctrines.  They  are  to  establish  tribunals,  the 
most  irresponsibly  despotic  that  can  be  devised,  be- 
fore which  the  accused  must  be  arraigned  ;  and  to 
carry  out  to  the  full  whatever  sentence  is  considered 
advisable,  they  are  invested  with  the  plenitude  of 
authority  enjoyed  by  the  holy  see— an  authority 
that  vaunts  to  inclose  within  its  grasp  not  only 
earth,  but  heaven  and  hell.  No  appeal  is  left :  from 
their  decisions  appeal  is  not  permitted  ;  and  on  their 
part,  no  appeal  is  required.  Confiscation,  imprison- 
ment, torture,  exile,  and  the  stake  are  in  their  hands, 
to  wield  against  men's  bodies  ;  and  at  the  voice  of 
their  excommunicating  curse,  the  pit  of  perdition  is 
to  unfold  its  jaws,  and  swallow  up  the  condemned 
soul.  They  are,  moreover,  to  preach  vehemently, 
stirring  up  the  rage  of  all  true  Christians  agains* 
their  neighbors,  and  publicly  to  entangle  in  the  subt- 
leties of  log'cal  disputation  such  as  may  venture  t* 


59  ANTICHRIST. 

avow  the  i  opinions.  They  are  o  convict  them,  if 
possible,  of  direct  opposition  to  the  mind  and  will 
of  the  Church  ;  and  to  seize  the  moment  of  such 
public  exposure  to  exasperate  against  them  the  more 
consistent  upholders  of  that  dreaded  authority. 
Many  admonitions  and  suggestions,  full  of  the  wis- 
dom that  cometh  not  from  above,  but  which  in  its 
earthly,  sensual,  devilish  subtlety,  frequently  over- 
reaches and  confounds  the  children  of  light,  does 
the  pontifical  instructor  bestow  on  his  eager  listen- 
ers ;  who,  with  years  and  experience  much  beyond 
his  own,  and  with  a  full  measure  of  learning  and 
talent,  are  far  behind  him  in  intellectual  power,  and 
still  further  in  that  unshrinking  spirit  of  fearless  de- 
termination that  will  openly  and  unwaveringly  pur- 
sue its  one  defined  object,  though  the  thrones  of 
monarchs,  and  the  bodies  and  souls  too  of  their 
countless  subjects,  must  be  crushed  under  his  ad- 
vancing tread.  A  noble  model  for  two  aspiring 
monks  to  study  !  a  bright  example  of  the  faith  which 
he  is  inciting  them  to  maintain,  and  to  establish  by 
espionage  and  dissimulation  ;  by  lying  sophistry  and 
suborned  evidence  ;  by  the  fetter,  the  dungeon,  the 
rack,  and  the  flame. 

Nothing  is  left  unsaid,  to  prepare  them  for  this 
work  ;  they  are  encouraged  to  propose  questions,  in 
matters  of  imaginary  difficulty  possible  to  occur, 
that  he  may  solve  them ;  and  to  exhibit  in  their 
most  formidable  aspect  all  supposable  obstacles-!, 
that  he  may  instruct  them,  not  only  how  to  conquei 


ANTtCttRtST,  ftO 

but  how  to  turn  them  all  to  advantage.  Never  was 
counsel  more  eagerly  taken  against  the  poor  scat- 
tered flock  of  the  Lord's  pasture,  than  while  those 
three  men  arrar.ged  the  cautious  opening  of  a  cam- 
paign, that  was  to  issue  in  exterminating  warfare ; 
and  they  leave  at  length  that  august  presence,  so 
replete  with  thoughts,  and  schemes,  and  auguries  of 
triumph,  that  while  they  slowly  retrace,  side  by  side 
the  stately  approaches  to  the  scene  of  audience, 
scarcely  are  they  tempted  to  cast  a  wandering  glance 
on  the  marvels  that  surround  them;  their  cowled 
brows  being  bent  still  lower  to  smother  the  whis- 
pered tones  that  mutually  recount  the  heads  of  their 
instructions,  or  prophecy  of  the  probable  events  of 
that  long  vista  of  dominion  which  the  natural  turn 
of  man's  life  opens  to  the  vigorous  mind  and  robust 
constitution  of  Lothnrius  de  Signi.  Perchance  each 
secretly  carves  out  for  himself  a  sway»  if  less  exten- 
sive, equally  despotic,  over  the  provinces  to  which 
they  are  now  to  repair;  and,  perchance,  it  is  sug- 
gested to  their  ambitious  minds,  that  one  of  them 
may  yet  live  to  snatch  the  powerful  keys  that  hands 
not  less  nervous  than  those  recently  uplifted  to  bless 
them,  have  oft  let  fall  under  the  operation  of  some 
deadly  draught.  For,  what  other  imerdon  has  the 

•>  O  O 

apostate  Church  to  offer  to  her  unscrupulous  offi- 
cials, than  the  attainment  of  honors,  and  wealth, 
and  lordly  sway,  among  the  kingdoms  of  this  world  ? 
Arriving  at  the  outer  portal  of  the  Vatican,  we 
can  hut  look  back  upon  its  walls,  and  say,  that,  upon 


dO  A-NT-lCHftlS?. 

earth,  Satan  never  prevailed  to  frame  so  mighty  a 
laboratory  of  sin.  The  perfection  of  its  machinery 
is  wonderful,  even  under  the  presiding  influence  of 
spirits  far  inferior  to  that  of  Innocent  III.  In  the 
stupendous  forgery  there  perpetually  carried  on, 
every  line  and  character  of  God's  truth  is  parodied 
with  wonderful  skill,  that,  the  original  destroyed,  men 
may  receive  the  base  fabrication,  and  believe,  not  to 
the  saving,  but  to  the  destruction  of  their  sou.s.  Its 
devices  are  best  seen  in  their  public  development : 
and  narrative,  not  declamation,  must  show  them 
forth :  but  of  the  pontiff  in  his  closet,  and  of  those 
monks  now  winding  their  course  through  the  streets 
of  the  great  city,  and  of  the  multitudes  for  whose 
slaughtering  career  they  go  to  prepare  the  way,  we 
can  say,  "  These  shall  make  war  upon  the  Lamb, 
and  the  Lamb  shall  overcome  them  ;  for  He  is  the 
King  of  kings,  and  Lord  of  lords  ;  and  they  that  are 
with  Him" — even  the  poor  harmless  helpless  ones 
whom  these  go  forth  to  destroy—"  are  called,  and 
chosen,  and  faithful." 

Gladly  we  turn  from  the  pomp  and  pride  of  the 
splendid  city,  on  whose  tall  towers  and  columns  of 
ancient  fame,  and  gigantic  ruins  of  an  empire  less 
mighty  than  that  which,  under  a  far  different  char- 
acter, yet  almost  identically  the  same  in  principle 
and  in  practice,  has  succeeded  it,  to  explore  again 
the  scene  of  future  persecution,  still  wrapped  in  the 
repose  of  presumed  independence  and  short-lived 
peace.  The  banners  that  float  on  the  battlements 


ANTICHRIST.  61 

of  thai  princely  abode  are  fanned  by  thj  Pyrennean 
breezes  ;  and  the  hands  that  planted  them  there  are 
•lerved  to  defend  them,  as  the  ensigns  of  a  freedom 
the  value  of  which  is  deeply  felt,  even  when  its  full 
extent  is  not  rightly  understood  :  they  are  guarded 
oy  those  who  have  learned  to  think  for  themselves  ; 
and  who,  for  the  bare  assumption  of  such  unautho- 
rized privilege,  are  already,  though  secretly,  con- 
demned as  unpardonable  rebels  against  the  supre- 
macy of  Rome. 

Wheresoever  the  Lord  plants  a  vineyard,  there 
he  also  builds  him  a  watch-tower.  Sometimes  a 
diligent  and  faithful  watchman  is  placed  there,  who 
holds  his  post  as  a  most  sacred  trust,  for  every  par- 
ticular of  which  he  must  deliver  in  a  full  detail  to 
the  eternal  King;  and  so  he  watches  as  one  who 
must  give  account,  that  he  may  be  able  to  do  it  with 
joy,  and  not  with  grief.  Thus  a  God-fearing  mon- 
arch, as  David,  Josiah,  Hezekiah,  will  rule  his  king- 
dom ;  thus  a  subordinate  prince,  his  more  confined 
possessions ;  thus  a  devout  landholder  his  patri- 
monial domain  ;  and  a  householder  his  family.  We 
speak  not  here  of  a  spiritual  surveillance  ;  not  of 
the  vine-dresser  or  the  grape-gatherer  ;  but  of  that 
secular  keeping  which  the  ordinary  course  of  this 
world  renders  necessary  for  the  preservation  of  land- 
marks, and  the  repulse  of  foreign  assailants,  whoso 
object  it  might  be  to  rend  and  to  trample  down  the 
precious,  but  weak  and  fragile  plants  that  constitute 
Jit  vineyard. 

G 


62  ANTICHRIST. 

Sometimes,  however,  that  which  to  man's  eye  ap- 
pears the  appointed  watch-tower,  is  none  other  than 
&  lodging  for  wayfaring  men,  who  come  and  go,  in 
pursuit  of  their  own  ends,  having  no  more  care  or 
thought  for  the  security  of  the  vineyard  than  their 
temporary  approximation  begets  in  selfish  minds. 
If  they  stretch  out  a  protecting  hand  on  its  behalf, 
it  is  only  because  the  wild  boar  who  comes  to  tram- 
ple it  down,  might,  if  unresisted,  turn  his  formida- 
ble tusks  upon  themselves,  and  become  exceedingly 
dangerous  to  them  Or,  at  least,  a  feeling  of  local 
attachment,  of  admiration  for  its  beauty,  apprecia- 
tion of  its  value,  and  innate  love  of  justice,  may  arm 
their  hands  in  that  defence  on  which  they  cannot 
but  admit  it  has  a  claim.  But  the  higher  motive  is 
altogether  wanting  :  their  guidance  to  the  spot  in 
danger's  hour  is  indeed  providential,  like  all  other 
things  that  affect  the  welfare  of  the  Lord's  Church  ; 
but  they  hold  no  recognized  commission,  they  look 
forward  to  no  searching  investigation  of  their  pro- 
ceedings ;  and  unhappy  is  he  who  leans  upon  them 
in  the  hour  of  calamity. 

In  such  cases,  then,  where  is  the  true  watchman 
to  be  found  ?  Only  the  eye  of  faith  can  discern  him  ; 
only  the  ear  of  faith  can  hear  his  encouraging  voice, 
saying,  "  The  Lord  himself  is  thy  keeper  :  the  Lord 
is  thy  defence  upon  thy  right  hand." 

Xo  vineyard  was  there,  perhaps,  so  extensive,  so 
Nourishing,  so  conspicuously  visible,  as  in  the  prov- 
ince of  Toulouse ;  and  strange  it  would  have  sounded 


ANTICHRIST.  63 

in  many  ears  to  have  denied  to  that  stately  castle  (he 
appellation  of  a  watch-tower,  or  to  Count  Raymond 
the  title  of  a  bold,  a  faithful  watchman  over  the 
plants  so  collected  and  so  trained  up  within  the 
broad  bounds  of  his  ancient  sovereignty.  A  sov- 
ereign prince  indeed  he  was,  a  man  of  war  from  his 
youth,  asserting  and.  maintaining  a  lofty  independ- 
ence, neither  to  be  controlled  by  the  monarch  whc 
received  his  nominal  homage,  nor  by  the  neigh- 
boring princes,  who  sought  by  frequent  disputes, 
and  many  hostile  attempts,  to  humble  his  pride, 
or  to  set  narrower  limits  to  his  power.  The  former 
remained  unbent,  the  latter  received  continual  ac- 
cessions of  strength  ;  for  he  gathered  around  him  its 
various  elements,  and  nourished  in  the  congenial  at- 
mosphere. The  stately  halls  of  Raymond's  castle 
echoed  to  the  lays  of  the  troubadours ;  his  revels, 
divested  of  the  coarser  features  of  a  barbarous  <ige, 
assembled  together  the  fairest  of  one  sex,  and  the 
boldest  of  the  other  ;  while  the  peculiar  refinement, 
and  diffusion  of  that  comparative  light  which  science 
sheds,  so  distinctive  of  the  Provencal  society,  fos- 
tered in  every  bosom  a  species  of  vain-glory  highly 
conducive  to  the  popularity  of  the  chief  undei 
whose  auspices  they  flourished.  To  recruit  his  mil- 
itary forces,  he  retained  in  his  pay  a  considerable 
body  of  Routiers,  an  organized  banditti,  in  fact,  frcm 
the  northern  parts  of  Spain,  whose  habits  of  plun- 
der he  carefully  restrained,  so  far  as  the  general 
population  of  the  province  was  concerned,  but  left 


64  ANTICHRIST. 

them  more  at  large  among  the  ecclesiastics ;  the 
most  despised  order  of  men.  Churches  were  forci- 
bly entered,  to  be  despoiled  of  their  gold,  and  sil- 
ver, and  precious  stones  ;  their  rich  vestments,  and 
costly  draperies  :  and  many  a  friar  found  himself 
unexpectedly  brought  within  the  letter  of  his  vow 
of  poverty,  through  the  marauding  exploits  of  those 
desperate  gangs,  who  held  all  religion  in  supreme 
contempt:  lut  none  sympathized  with  the  sufferers ; 
they  stood  as  far  beyond  the  pale  of  Proyencal  re- 
finement on  the  one  hand,  as  on  the  other  beyond 
that  of  scriptural  verity.  Raymond  upheld  his  in- 
fluence, even  over  the  mercenary  Rentiers,  at  the 
bast  possible  expense  to  his  popularity  in  other 
quarters.  He  dreamed  not  that  the  very  order  on 
which  he  most  disdainfully  pressed  his  heel,  was  that 
which  should  ere  long  arise  and  crush  him.  Alas 
for  him  who  ventures  to  tread  among  scorpions, 
without  having  his  feet  first  shod  with  the  prepara- 
tion of  the  Gospel  of  peace  ! 

The  dominion  of  Count  Raymond  extended  over 
the  greater  part  of  the  territory  already  specified, 
the  respective  lords  owning  to  him  a  fealty  that  his 
prowess  compelled  them  to  acknowledge,  and,  on 
most  occasions,  heartily  uniting  with  him  in  the  re- 
pulsion of  any  superior  claimant.  Like  him,  they 
despised  the  lazy,  useless,  and  ignorant  order  of  ec- 
clesiastics ;  like  him  they  tolerated,  ?.nd  many  of 
them  opo  :ily  fostered,  .the  purer  faith  held  by  the 
scattered  j  eople  of  God.  But  Toulouse,  the  im 


ANTICHRIST.  65 

mediate  province  so  called,  was  where  tl  ese  protest- 
ers especially  basked  in  the  sunshine  of  patronage! 
and  the  city  itself  was  considered  not  less  their  head- 
quarters than  it  was  the  seat  of  Raymond's  govern- 
ment. Fulcrand,  Bishop  of  the  place,  made  an  ef- 
fort to  uphold  the  sinking  credit  of  his  order,  but  in 
vain  the  very  year  before  Innocent  III.  assumed 
the  tiara,  an  indignant  historian  describes  the  low 
ebb  to  which  ecclesiastical  power  had  fallen,  in  these 
terms:  "The  temples  were  deserted;  the  altar 
itself  wanted  ministers  ;  and  the  Church,  not  find- 
ing subjects  sufficient  to  consecrate,  was  compelled 
to  have  recourse  to  orders  of  men  destitute  of  tiie 
proper  qualifications,  who,  by  their  ignorance  and 
corruption  aided  the  heretics  to  accomplish  the  de- 
struction of  that  authority  with  which  the  Catholic 
religion  had  been  for  twelve  centuries  invested." 
So  rapidly  was  the  man  of  sin,  in  those  regions,  con- 
sumed with  the  breath  of  the  Lord's  mouth,  that 
there  scarcely  remained  a  tangible  substance  of  the 
body  which  is  finally  to  be  destroyed  by  the  bright- 
ness of  his  coming.  But  the  set  time  had  not  yet 
arrived  ;  and  this,  like  many  other  of  his  deadly 
wounds,  was  to  be  healed  again. 

Among  the  many  classes  who  thronged  Count 
Raymond's  presence-chamber,  on  a  day  of  public  au- 
dience, there  was  not  one  in  which  a  strong  taint  of 
what  Rome  calls  heresy  might  not  be  detected. 
The  feudal  lords,  his  equal  guests,  who  surrounded 
his  chair  of  state,  or  leaned  upon  his  arm  as  he 
6* 


60  ANTICHRIST. 

slowly  paced  the  marble  floor,  were  frequently 
known,  not  only  as  the  protectors,  but  as  the  open 
patrons  of  avowed  Albigenses,  from  among  whom 
they  selected  their  counsellors  and  bosom  friends. 
Some  of  them  had  nobly  braved  the  fearful  menace 
of  excommunication,  often  paraded  but  as  yet  not 
actually  fulminated  against  them  as  enemies  to  the 
faith:  others,  while  making  a  show  of  compliance, 
and  ostensibly  preparing  to  seize  the  persons  and  ef- 
fects of  the  accused,  had  secretly  warned  them  of 
their  danger,  pointed  out  a  more  secure  place  of 
abode,  and  supplied  the  means  of  immediate  removal. 
The  military  commanders,  through  all  gradations  of 
rank,  partook  in  this  feeling ;  for,  where  their  own 
minds  were  wholly  unimpressed  with  the  majestic 
reality  of  truth,  as  embodied  in  the  creed  of  their 
Albigensic  troops,  their  eyes  could  not  be  utterly 
closed  to  the  beauty  of  holiness,  as  displayed  in  those 
men's  daily  walk.  The  living  and  moving  principle 
within  might  be  veiled  from  their  careless,  carnal 
sight ;  but  the  fruits  of  the  Spirit  were  as  manifest  in 
them  as  were  the  works  of  the  flesh  in  others ;  and 
good  order,  fidelity,  sobriety,  punctuality,  with  calm, 
unflinching  courage,  were  too  well  appreciated  by 
those  who  held  command  over  them,  to  fail  of  ex- 
citing a  warm  and  generous  sympathy,  even  if  it 
wx)n  them  not  to  investigate  the  origin  of  such  con- 
sistent effects.  In  this  class,  which  in  those  warlike 
days  frequently  comprised  all  the  males  of  a  prov- 
ince, between  boyhood  and  old  age,  there  were  also 


ANTICHRIST.  67 

wh)  availed  themselves  of  the  sanction 
oi  their  truly  Christian  comrades'  example  for  neg- 
recting  the  outward  services  of  the  nominal  Church  ; 
and  in  so  doing  set  themselves  free  from  all  restraint, 
remaining  utterly  destitute  of  any  religion,  having 
rejected  the  false  without  inquiring  after  the  true 
faith  ;  and  thus,  while  incurring  the  brand  of  heresy, 
they  attached  by  their  loose  living,  the  stigma  of 
gross  licentiousness  to  that  in  which  they  had  nei- 
ther part  nor  lot. 

The  substantial  burgess,  the  humbler  tradesman, 
the  artisan  and  the  peasant,  must  all  have  pleaded 
guilty  to  the  charge  of  harboring  within  the  circle  of 
his  daily  companionship,  if  not  in  his  own  home,  or 
in  his  own  bosom,  a  portion  of  the  pervading  leaven. 
Among  the  three  last  it  was,  perhaps,  chiefly  to  be 
sought  for  in  its  purity  and  lustre.  Examples  there 
were,  in  every  rank,  of  an  elevated  Christian  walk 
and  conversation,  compared  with  the  prevalent  char- 
acter of  the  times,  and  the  degraded  state  of  nominal 
religion  ;  and  the  noble  army  of  martyrs  had  its 
ranks  thickly  repfenished  from  the  luxurious  palace, 
from  the  hall  of  study,  from  the  comfortable  home- 
stead of  the  thriving  gentleman,  and  other  places 
where  the  noble,  the  wise,  and  the  mighty  were 
callod,  and  justified,  and  glorified  ;  but  the  poor  in 
this  world  were  those  among  whom  the  riches  of 
faith  chiefly  abounded  ;  and  from  whom  God  chiefly 
chose  the  heirs  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  These 
ofien  approached  Count  Raymond  with  their  re- 


H8  ANTICHRIST. 

spectful  statements  of  grievances,  for  the  redress  of 
which  they  knew  that  he  was  appointed,  and  with 
petition;?,  that  he  was  equally  able  and  willing  to 
grant.  Nor  could  the  railing  accusations  that  some 
indignant  ecclesiastic  might  pour  forth  against  the 
suppliant,  as  a  notorious  despiser  of  his  gods  and 
goddesses,  turn  the  current  of  justice  in  its  even 
course.  The  contrary  was  indeed  often  evident ;  a 
bias  was  given  in  favor  of  the  denounced  heretic  by 
the  very  denunciation  that  sought  to  crush  him  ; 
and  again,  we  must  repeat,  that,  to  the  eye  of  man, 
the  proud  turrets  of  Toulouse's  regal  castle  would 
appear  to  have  belonged  to  a  true  watch-tower, 
most  effectually  manned  for  the  defence  of  the 
Lord's  vineyard. 

But  he  whose  coming  is  after  the  power  of  Satan, 
had  never  yet  put  forth  that  terrible  power  against 
the  weak  defences  thus  established.  Man  might 
grapple  with  the  strength  of  man,  and  deride  his 
threats,  and  maintain  a  disputed  possession  in  tri- 
umphant security  ;  but  when  the  wrestling  hereto- 
fore sustained  against  flesh  and  blood  alone,  be- 
comes a  grapple  with  the  unseen  host  of  principali- 
ties and  powers  :  when  the  rulers  of  the  darkness  of 
this  world  overshadow  the  field  with  their  ominous 
presence,  and  wicked  spirits  in  high  places  assume 
the  conduct  of  the  fray,  nothing  but  the  armor,  the 
\vhole  armor  of  God,  can  enable  an  opponent  to 
stand :  only  the  girdle  of  truth,  the  breasrp'ate  of 
vighteousness,  the  sandals  of  peace,  the  shield  of 


ANTICHRIST.  fi9 

faith  the  helmet  of  salvation,  the  sword  of  the  word, 
all  kept  bright  and  serviceable  by  unceasing  prayer, 
can  furnish  a  warrior  for  that  day's  battle. 

Where  now  is  Count  Raymond,  where  his  feudal 
peers,  and  veteran  knights  of  crusading  renown  ? 
They  have  vanished  from  the  scene  like  smoke :  the 
arm  of  flesh  has  withered,  and  is  gone.  Their  pres- 
ence may  be  as  palpable,  and  their  array  as  glitter- 
ing, and  their  front  as  bold  as  it  Avas  erewhile,  be- 
neath  the  vaulted  roof  of  that  castellated  palace, 
which  has  lost  none  of  its  solidity,  nothing  of  its  im- 
pregnable aspect :  but  as  a  watch-tower  for  the  de- 
fence of  the  Lord's  vineyard,  it  is  nothing;  and 
they,  as  guardians,  are  less  than  nothing.  The  will 
remains,  but  the  power  that  alone  could  now  sustain 
that  will  in  effectual  operation  is  wanting,  because 
it  has  never  been  sought.  History,  in  all  its  ample 
pages,  does  not  contain  a  more  instructive  lesson  of 
the  helplessness  of  man,  than  is  furnished  by  the 
memorial  of  Raymond  VI.,  the  powerful  Count  of 
Toulouse. 

It  is  customary  to  represent  this  chieftain  as  a 
man  of  doubtful  courage,  of  weak  mind,  and  waver- 
ing resolution  ;  but  no  warrant  exists  for  so  regard- 
ing him.  Raymond  was  an  intrepid  warrior,  an  un- 
daunted upholder  of  his  rights  and  possessions,  his 
partly  by  inheritance,  partly  by  conquest,  and  the 
rest  in  virtue  of  four  marriages.  His  union  with 
the  ,«ister  of  our  own  royal  fanatic,  the  lion-h  .arted 
Richard,  ti  insferred  to  him  some  of  England's  pos- 


70 

sessions  in  France ;  and  his  last  alliance  Was  ,1  most 
politic  one:  just  at  the  period  when  Innocent  made 
vehement  appeals  to  the  French  king,  on  behalf  of 
the  nominal  Church,  and  when  Raymond  was  nee* 
essarily  present  to  the  minds  of  both  these  poten* 
tates,  as  the  principal  offender,  whom  they  must 
unite  to  destroy,  the  count  married  the  sister  of 
the  king  of  Arragon,  and  so  strengthened  himself  by 
this  alliance  as  to  render  his  position  one  of  tenfold 
security.  No,  Raymond  was  neither,  fearful  nof 
foolish,  in  the  things  of  this  world ;  but  he  lacked 
the  wisdom  that  cometh  from  above,  and  which 
alone  could  have  armed  him  to  withstand  an  onset 
headed  by  the  king  of  the  bottomless  pit. 

When  Regnier  and  Guy  entered  upon  their  mis- 
sion, their  first  destination  was  Narbonne  ;  where 
they  prosecuted  inquiries,  made  observations,  and 
framed  reports  for  their  master's  eye,  which  fired 
him  to  the  utmost  pitch  of  zeal  for  the  instant  sup- 
pression of  what  he  now  saw  to  be  an  antagonist 
power  of  formidable  growth.  Previously  to  dis- 
patching them,  he  had  sent  other  delegates  into  the 
infected  provinces,  with  full  authority  to  destroy 
whatsoever  and  whosever  might  be  found  in  the  at- 
titude of  opposition  to  Rome ;  and  these  had  com- 
mitted several  cruel  murders,  publicly  burning  first 
a  gentleman  of  consideration,  whom  they  convicted 
of  holding  heretical  opinions  ;  and  subsequently  a 
number  of  poor  people  in  the  villages  where  no 
powerful  arm  could  be  uplifted  in  their  defence,  and 


ANTICHRIST.  71 

frhere  terror  and  consternation  paralyzed  the  simple 
inhabit  in  ts.  Beyond  this,  however,  no  impression 
was  made  ;  and  the  result  of  a  close  scrutiny  on  the 
part  of  his  two  inquisitors,  only  tended  to  prove 
how  firmly  the  faith  which  they  sought  to  destroy 
had  rooted  itself.  The  pope,  therefore,  proceeded 
to  select  three  other  legates  ;  Arnaud,  abbot  of 
Citeaux,  an  ambitious,  crafty,  eloquent,  and  unscru- 
pulous man  ;  Peter  de  Castelnau,  a  stern  bigot, 
fierce  and  unmasked,  who  openly  panted  to  carry 
fire  and  sword  alike  into  palace  and  hovel,  and  who 
could  not  even  restrain  the  turbulence  of  his  bit- 
ter  spirit  when  policy  demanded  it ;  and  Raoul,  a 
smooth,  soft-spoken  person,  with  much  of  the  mod- 
ern Jesuit  about  him  :  but  neither  the  authoritative 
temper  of  the  first,  nor  the  oily  serenity  of  the  last, 
could  obtain  ascendency.  The  impetuous  violence 
of  Castelnau  bore  all  before  him  ;  and  his  premature 
exhibitions  of  ferocity  retarded  the  success  of  their 
mission,  until  they  ended  in  his  own  destruction ; 
an  event  that  proved  more  serviceable  than  his  pro- 
onged  life  could  have  done. 

While  dispatching  these  legates,  Innocent  was 
not  unmindful  of  another  weapon,  placed,  as  he 
conceived,  at  his  sole  command.  Philip  Augustus, 
king  of  France,  was  the  sovereign  to  whom  apper- 
tained the  supreme  lordship  of  Toulouse;  and  tc 
him  the  pope  addressed  a  letter  that  must  not  be 
omitted,  exhibiting  as  it  does,  at  a  glance,  the  char- 
acter of  its  writer,  and  uttering  so  impressively  the 


72  ANTICHRIST. 

dragon's  roar,  from  under  the  horns  of  the  lamb 
It  shows  for  what  purpose,  in  the  papal  estimation, 
kings  are  appointed  ;  and  displays  the  fearful  hypoc- 
risy which  is  yet  no  real  disguise  ;  the  embroidered 
veil  of  gossamer-tissue,  so  lightly  thrown  back  by 
the  mother  of  harlots,  exposing,  in  all  their  naked 
hideousivess,  the  features  of  her  branded  face.  Thus 
runs  the  letter  ;  and  a  splendid  composition  it  is,  in 
its  original  Latin  :•— 

"  Sire,— 

"The  Lord  has  established  the  dignity  of  pontiff, 
and  that  of  king,  for  the  preservation  of  his  church. 
The  first  to  nourish  her  children,  the  second  to  de- 
fend them.  That,  to  instruct  docile  souls,  this  to 
subdue  rebellious  spirits.  The  pontiff  must  pray 
for  her  most  cmel  enemies,  and  the  king  must  draw 
he  sword  to  punish  them.  If  these  two  powers  are 
agreed,  in  duly  rendering  their  mutual  service,  then 
the  secular  arm  must  chastise  those  whom  the 
church  is  unable  to  bring  back  to  their  duty.  A 
great  monarch  bears  not  the  sword  in  vain ;  God 
has  committed  it  to  him  for  the  service  of  the  faith. 
At  the  summons  of  the  pontiff,  he  must  hasten 
wheresoever  the  faith  is  menaced.  *  *  *  * 
In  virtue  of  the  power  with  which  you  are  endued 
from  on  high,  compel  therefore,  the  counts  and  bar- 
ons to  confiscate  the  goods  of  the  heretics  ;  and  ex- 
ercise a  goodly  severity  against  such  of  these  lords 
as  refuse  to  expel  them  from  their  own  dominions. ' 


ANTICHRIST.  78 

This  stirring  appeal  to  the  French  king,  produced 
no  substantial  effect :  Philip  Augustus  was  busied 
in  settling  and  strengthening  his  newly-recovered 
possessions,  the  fruit  of  some  successful  wars ;  and 
be  did  not  consider  it  expedient  suddenly  to  embroil 
limself  with  the  powerful  nobles  of  Provence,  to 
indulge  the  ardor  of  a  fiery  young  pope.  He  ac- 
cordingly transmitted  empty  promises  to  Rome,  and 
threats  no  less  empty  to  Toulouse,  both  of  which 
were  estimated  at  their  real  value.  Innocent  was 
not  beguiled  ;  neither  were  the  troublers  of  his 
peace  alarmed. 

Meanwhile,  the  three  legates  employed  themselves 
diligently  in  estimating  first  the  state  of  the  ecclesi- 
astical body,  whose  degradation  was  so  universally 
conspicuous.  Castelnau  transmitted  to  Rome  heavy 
charges  of  incapacity,  pusillanimity,  and  other  of- 
fences against  the  three  bishops  of  Narbonne,  Be- 
ziers,  and  Toulouse ;  all  of  whom  they  contrived  to 
displace;  and  by  a  characteristic  stroke  of  policy 
they  chose  for  the  vacant  chair  of  Toulouse,  a  man 
whose  handsome  person,  joyous  manners,  liberal 
mind,  and  brilliant  wit,  were  especially  calculated 
to  attract  the  refined  Provencals.  The  bait  took: 
Fou'kes  soon  gathered  around  him  an  admiring  con- 
gregation ;  the  deserted  catheral  was  once  more 
thronged  with  dt lighted  listeners;  and  by  his  fasci- 
nating eloquence,  playful  sallies  of  wit,  and  all  the 
charms  of  popular  oratory,  he  seemed  to  have  at- 
tached them  permanently  to  his  ministry.  He  tLen 
7 


74  ANTICHRIST. 

changed  his  tone,  and  gradually  endeavored  to  lead 
them  back  into  the  mazes  of  that  sombre  supersti- 
tion from  which  they  had  emerged, — some  into  the 
pure  sunshine  of  the  Gospel,  others  into  the  dus- 
zling  glitter  of  human  learning  and  human  science  ; 
but  all  out  of  palpable  darkness  into  comparative 
light.  The  effect  was  astounding  ;  the  congregation 
a*  once  forsook  their  pastor,  and  bishop  Foulkes 
was  left  to  descant  on  the  power  of  the  holy  see 
with  all  its  appurtenances,  and  to  recite  his  legends 
of  saints,  long  since  consigned  to  oblivion  by  thos< 
heretical  Toulousians,  with  few  auditors  beyond  the 
baffled  triumvirate  of  legates,  who  thus  received  a 
more  conclusive  proof  of  the  overthrow  of  papal 
error  than  they  were  prepared  to  encounter.  It  so 
disheartened  Castelnau  and  Raoul,  that  they  ab- 
ruptly left  the  place,  and  were  making  all  speed  to 
Rome,  when  they  met  a  Spanish  b>hop  on  his  re- 
turn to  his  diocese,  who,  after  encouraging  them  in 
language  worthy  a  better  cause,  proved  his  sin- 
cerity by  dismissing  his  retinue,  and  on  foot,  with 
only  one  attendant,  joining  himself  to  them  as  a 
mendicant  preacher,  in  which  character  he  assured 
them  that  they,  like  the  apostles  of  old,  must  pur- 
sue their  mission  if  they  desired  to  succeed.  We 
notice  the  incident  chiefly  because  the  bishop  of 
Osma's  attendant,  who,  on  this  occasion,  formed  a 
fourth  in  the  party,  was  no  other  than  that  scourge 
of  the  human  race,  Domin  c,  the  founder  of  the  mur- 
derous InqiiHtion. 


ANTICHRIST.  75 

4 

By  such  machinery,  so  arranged,  so  directed,  so 
promptly  set  in  motion  again  after  a  temporary 
check,  was  Satan  prosecuting  his  designs  against 
the  Lord's  people.  To  make  war  with  the  saints, 
when  the  time  was  come  for  crushing  the  infant 
church;  the  prince  of  darkness  had  found  a  general 
every  way  suited,  in  Lotharius  de  Signi ;  and  see- 
ing that  he  had  now  grasped  the  appointed  viccge- 
rency  of  the  Dragon,  all  the  powers  of  hell  seem  U 
have  been  placed  at  his  command  for  the  execution 
of  his  dreadful  behests.  We  are  too  apt  to  dwell 
exclusively  upon  the  catastrophe,  overlooking  the 
progress  of  events,  the  long,  wary,  wily,  skilful 
drawing  of  the  net  around  the  prey.  It  is  unwise 
so  to  do;  for  how  know  we  that  such  enemies  even, 
now  prowl  about  our  path,  and  that  in  such  a  net  it 
is  confidently  anticipated  that  our  feet  also  shall  be 
caught  ?  Nay,  how  can  we  look  around  us,  and 
mark  the  signs  of  the  times,  and  doubt  that  even 
so  it  is  ? 

When  our  Lord  Jesus  was  led  up  by  the  Spirit 
into  the  wilderness,  to  be  tempted  of  the  devil,  a 
mighty  panorama  was  opened  to  his  view,  by  the 
magic  power  of  the  wicked  one,  exhibiting  at  once 
all  the  grandeur  and  the  glory  and  the  might  of  the 
world's  kingdoms  : — their  hoarded  wealth,- their  vo- 
luptuous beauty,  the  crushing  force  of  their  impetu- 
ous chivalry.  There  were  the  fascinations  of  Greece 
her  poesy,  her  philosophy,  her  sculjture,  and  hei 


76  ANTICHRIST. 

innumerable  blandishments ;  there  the  chariots  and 
horses,  and  iron  legions  of  Rome,  holding  the  known 
world  in  a  fetter  that  none  might  break.  To  all 
these  could  Satan  point,  and  boldly  assert,  "  All 
this  is  mine,  and  to  whomsoever  I  will,  I  give  it." 
The  assertion  was  not  denied  ;  on  the  contrary,  if 
\vas  confirmed  on  numerous  subsequent  occasions, 
when  the  kingship,  the  godship  of  the  devil  over 
the  whole  world  that  lieth  in  wickedness,  was  em- 
phatically recognized.  He  who  wielded  this  tre- 
mendous power ;  he  who  occupied  the  seat  of  per- 
mitted rule ;  he  who  had  authority  to  dispose  at 
will  of  what  he  vaunted  to  possess,  is  denominated 
in  the  record  of  that  awful  scene  "  the  devil ;"  and 
is  addressed  by  our  Lord  as  "  Satan." 

Again,  in  the  Apocalypse  we  are  told  of  a  dragon, 
whose  enmity  against  the  church  is  deadly,  and  his 
incessant  aim,  her  destruction :  of  this  dragon  it  is 
expressly  said,  he  is  "  the  Devil  and  Satan."  Rev. 
xx.  2. 

And  again,  when  a  beast  is  described  whose  pecu- 
liar work  it  is  to  make  war  with  the  saints,  and  to 
overcome  them, — a  beast  every  way  identical  with 
papal  Rome, it  is  said,  "The  Dragon  (i.  e.  the  Devil 
and  Satan)  gave  him  his  power,  and  his  seat,  and 
great  authority."  Rev.  xiii.  2. 

It  is  really  wonderful  that,  with  'hese  solemn 
truths  of  Holy  Scripture  before  their  eyes,  histori- 
ans of  the  past,  or  politicians  of  th^  present  days 
•;an  deal  \vi*h  this  subje  ~t  as  with  any  ordinarj 


ANTICHRIST.  77 

matter,  where  na  ural  causes  produce  natural  effects. 
The  contest  between  Christianity  and  Popery  is  but 
the  predicted  continuance  of  that  which  in  the  wil- 
derness of  Judea  was  held  between  Christ  <jnd  Sa- 
tan. As  on  the  former  occasion,  so  in  the  latter, 
we  see  the  craft,  the  subtlety,  and  the  plausibility 
of  the  old  serpent  brought  into  action  ;  until,  baffled 
in  these,  he  withdraws  the  veil,  exhibits  his  tremen- 
dous power,  and  boldly  names  the  price  at  which 
he  will  barter  it ; — that  is,  the  recognition  of  his 
sovereignty  by  an  act  that  at  once  rejects  the  do- 
minion of  the  Lord  God,  and  pledges  the  wretched 
victim  forever  to  the  active  service  of  his  infernal 
master.  We  do  not  here  pause  to  enter  upon  the 
deeply  interesting  subject  of  advantages  gained  by 
such  compact  on  the  part  of  the  great  adversary. 
He  knows  his  doom  ;  and  during  the  limited  time 
that  intervenes,  he  has  a  twofold  object  to  accom- 
plish:  first,  to  involve  in  his  own  crime  and  pun- 
ishment as  many  of  God's  creatures  as  he  can  se- 
duce ;  and  secondly,  to  revenge  the  deadly  wound 
inflicted  on  his  head  by  the  woman's  Seed,  by  bruis- 
ing to  the  uttermost,  where  he  cannot  destroy,  the 
lowly  members  of  the  body  of  which  the  head  is 
Christ.  Personally  he  encountered  the  Holy  One1 
was  conquered,  and  fled  :  by  his  human  agents  he 
persecutes  the  saints,  and  maintains  against  them, 
oftentimes,  an  actual  war,  which  he,  a  disembodied 
spirit,  could  not  wag';  without  the  intervention  of 
human  instruments,  in  one  sense  more  powerful 


78  ANT1CHR1S7. 

than  himself;  for  batan  can  only  menace  or  allure  , 
satanic  men  can  ti-rture  and  destroy  the  bodies  of 
their  fellow-men.  The  immateriality  of  the  evil 
spirit  would  be  a  bar  to  the  acting  out  of  his  dia- 
bolical desires,  had  he  not  succeeded  in  securing  the 
•use  of  material  bodies,  capable  of  outraging  in' de- 
tail the  letter  of  every  divine  law  against  which 
he  can  himself  only  maintain  a  spiritual  rebellion. 
There  is  an  awful  magnitude,  and  yet  a  more  awful 
reality  about  these  subjects  that  we  too  little  heed ; 
almost  any  branch  of  ordinary  human  science  draws 
forth  the  powers  of  the  mind  to  investigate,  to  ana- 
lyze, and  to  deduce  conclusions,  more  readily  t  and 
to  a  wider  extent  than  these  deep  things  of  God. 

Enthroned  in  the  dragon's  seat,  and  well  content 
to  exercise  the  power  and  authority  thereto  belong- 
ing to  the  full  satisfaction  of  his  invisible  prompter, 
Innocent  kept  an  anxious  eye  on  the  scene  of  coining 
war.  The  failure  at  Toulouse  was  calculated  to  ex- 
asperate him  ;  and  the  angry  spirit  of  Peter  de  Cas- 
telnau  failed  not  to  keep  alive  the  flame  of  papal 
indignation.  This  impatient  zealot  could  not  long 
brook  the  restraint  that  Diego's  far-seeing  policy 
laid  upon  his  violence ;  or  the  wily  deliberation  of 
Dominic's  crafty  plans ;  and  he  soon  broke  away 
from  them  to  essay  the  powers  of  his  fierce  vituper- 
ation on  Count  Raymond,  to  whom  he  repaired  ;  in- 
sulting, menacing,  and  exasperating  the  haughty 
noble,  because  he  refused,  at  the  dictation  of  the 
legato,  to  niter  ii  to  a  doubtful  compact  with  the 


ANTICHHIST.  79 

surrounded  barons  on  the  basis  of  a,  general  exter- 
mination of  the  subjects  whom  he  was  resolved  to 
protect;  and  finding  that  his  words  excited  in  Ray- 
mond only  scorn  and  indignation,  he  proceeded  to 
cxcomm  inicate  the  count ;  laying  his  territories 
undcT  an  interdict.  This,  as  the  act  of  a  passionate 
priest,  would  be  lightly  regarded ;  he  therefore  ap- 
pealed to  the  pope  to  confirm  the  sentence,  who 
forthwith  wrote  in  his  sternest,  iftost  withering  style 
to  Raymond,  and  elicited  from  him  a  promise  that 
he  would  proceed  to  the  work  of  separation  and  ex- 
termination, pointed  out  as  the  sole  price  of  such 
mercy  as  the  Romish  church  assumes  to  dispense  in 
spiritual  matters ;  between  which  and  the  deadliest 
vengeance  that  she  has  temporal  power  to  inflict,  she 
knows  no  medium.  Raymond,  however,  made  no 
progress  in  his  reluctant  task  ;  a  year  passed  on,  and 
herfsy  flourished  as  before,  notwithstanding  some 
•warlike  demonstrations  against  it,  in  semblance  at 
least  on  his  part.  Castelnau,  who  watched  him 
with  the  eye  of  a  vulture  following  the  caterer  of 
his  destined  repast  of  blood,  could  not  brook  his 
tardy  movements ;  he  sought  Raymond  out,  it  Sc. 
Gilles,  where  he  was  engaged  on  some  expedition, 
and  bitterly  reproached  him,  as  a  hypocrite,  a  here- 
tic, a  traitor,  and  whatsoever  else  might  most  deeply 
sting  the  pride  of  the  regal  chieftain  ;  reiterating, 
at  the  close  of  his  harangue,  his  former  excommuni- 
cation and  interdict.  On  this  occasion,  Count  Ray- 
mond was  so  incensed  as  to  utter  words  of  menace 


SO  ANTICHRIST. 

against  the  personal  safety  of  the  legate ;  which  he 
presently  recalled.  They  were,  however,  spoken  , 
and  they  sealed  his  own  doom.  Castelnau  and  his 
companion  quitted  t1  e  scene  of  this  altercation  in 
great  wrath,  leaving  the  count  and  his  military  com- 
panions no  less  excited.  Having  shortly  afterwards 
to  pass  the  Rhone,  not  far  from  Saint  Gilles,  they 
took  up  their  quarters  at  a  village  inn,  and  here 
they  fell  in  with  {^gentleman  of  Raymond's  court, 
a  witness  of  the  legate's  outrageous  conduct,  and 
sharing  in  the  general  resentment  excited  by  it.  As 
the  travellers  issued  from  the  church  where  they 
had  all  attended  morning  mass,  on  the  day  after 
their  first  encounter,  the  Toulousian  engaged  Castel- 
nau in  a  disputation  on  the  subject  of  heresy  and  its 
due  punishment.  The  fiery  zealot  on  one  hand,  and 
on  the  other  a  young  soldier  who  had  so  recently 
witnessed  the  insult  put  upon  his  prince-ly  com- 
mander, and  heard  the  interdict  pronounced  which 
involved  m  its  deadly  evil  his  own  homestead,  his 
own  kin,  and  his  familiar  friends,  were  not  likely  to 
debate  the  point  with  temperance.  The  quarrel 
ran  high  between  them,  and  ere  they  parted,  Peter 
de  Castelnau  had  fallen,  a  blood-stained  corpse,  be- 
neath the  poniard  of  his  opponent. 

This  occurred  in  January  1208,  ten  years  after 
the  first  mission  of  Guy  and  Regnier  from  the  Vati- 
can. During  that  period,  all  possible  rr.eans  had 
been  used  to  prepare  the  way  for  what  Innocent 
was  resolved  to  acomoHsh.  Dissensions  had  been 


ANTICHRIST  81 

sown  with  lavish  hund,  throughout  the  once  peace- 
able and  united  community :  preaching  had  been 
resorted  to,  of  ;v  very  popular  style,  vehement,  cal- 
culated to  attract  the  notice,  and  to  rouse  the  pas- 
sions of  the  imaginative  auditors.  All  Rome's  pre- 
tensions were  anew  set  forth,  sometimes  under  the 
guise  of  deepest  sanctity,  by  men  whose  wasted 
forms  and  poverty-stricken  asp'ect,  bespoke  their 
voluntary  surrender  of  all  fleshly  gratifications  ; 
sometimes  with  the  pomp  and  pride,  and  overpow- 
ering arrogance  that  often  dazzle  or  dismay  where 
they  cannot  convince  the  reason.  Especially  was 
the  craft  pursued  of  purchasing  traitors  and  hiring 
calumniators,  who  secretly  poisoned  the  minds  of 
their  neighbors  against  the  harmless  Christians, 
who  were,  moreover,  constantly  drawn  into  public 
disputation,  on  which  their  opponents  were  sure  to 
perplex  their  simple  minds,  by  sophistry  that  puz- 
zled and  silenced  them,  though  it  left  their  faith 
untouched  ;  and  then,  all  who  did  not  openly  avow 
themselves  to  be  what  the  Church  of  Rome  de- 
nounced as  heretics,  condemned  and  accursed,  were 
ostentatiously  included  in  the  victorious  party  ;  thus 
insensibly  rooting  in  their  hearts  a  feeling  of  hostil- 
ity against  their  neighbors,  and  a  contempt  for  the 
religion  which  they  had  learned  to  reverence,  from 
considering — not  the  arguments  that  it  could  ad- 
vance— but  the  fruit  that  it  perpetually  bore  before 
their  eyes. 

But  the  time  v  as  novi  come  for  such  an  outburst 


82  AN      CHRIST. 

of  despotic  violence  as  better  suited  the  temper  of 
Innocent  111.  than  this  dilator)7  sapping  and  mining 
He  had,  before  the  close  of  the  preceding  year,  ful- 
minated a  string  of  pontifical  bulls,  addressed  to  the 
king  and  the  principal  nobles  of  France,  for  the 
effect  of  which  he  anxiously  watched  ;  their  purport 
being  to  lay  the  foundation  of  a  war  of  fanaticism 
against  those  whom  he  represented  as  being  worse 
than  the  Saracens ;  when  tidings  of  Castelnau's 
assassination, — closely  connected,  of  course,  with  the 
angry  threats  of  Raymond,  and  perpetrated  by  one 
who  had  stood  beside  the  count  when  he  uttered 
those  threats, — reached  the  pontiff  in  Rome.  Every 
bad,  every  vengeful,  every  merciless  project,  re- 
ceived at  once  a  mighty  impetus,  and  a  very  plausi- 
ble excuse.  The  brain  of  Innocent  knew  no  repose, 
his  rapid  pen  never  stayed  its  flight  over  the  pages 
that  were  taught  to  communicate  his  own  irritated 
feelings,  and  the  pile  so  warily  heaped  up  was  kindled 
at  once  into  a  blaze  ;  not  of  sudden,  unpremeditated 
character,  but  according  to  the  deep-laid  schemes  of 
many  years,  now  brought  to  maturity  by  an  event 
the  most  opportune  that  could  possibly  have  occur- 
red, for  the  party  on  whom  it  seemed  to  fall  as  a 
heavy  calamity. 

The  crusades  had  long  been  found  a  powerful  en- 
gine in  the  hands  of  Rome.  They  extended  h<  r 
temporal  power ;  filled  her  coffers  ;  fixed,  beyond 
any  other  means,  the  fetter  of  her  spiritual  despo- 
tism; and,  what  was  of  primary  importance,  sup 


ANTICHRIST:  33 

plied  a  safety-valve  by  which  the  milituiy  prowess 
and  resources  of  monarchs  who  might  have  proved 
troublesome  vassals  to  the  papacy,  were  directed 
into  a  distant  region,  to  serve  its  ends ;  while  those 
kings  with  their  armies  had  their  worst  passions 
perpetually  kept  alive,  their  ferocity  untamed,  their 
thirst  for  blood  and  spoil  encouraged,  and  all  in  sub- 
ordination to  the  fanaticism  which  it  behooved  their 
master  to  nourish,  as  their  prevailing  characteristic. 
The  nobles  of  Provence  had  of  late  been  backward 
in  leading  their  forces  to  these  "holy  wars:"  the 
refinement  of  taste,  manners,  and  feelings,  and  still 
more,  no  doubt,  the  working  of  so  much  good  leaven 
in  the  mass,  had  indisposed  them  for  the  savage 
scenes  that  desolated  the  f.air  land  of  Palestine  ; 
while  their  own  beautiful  country  constantly  im- 
proved under  the  reign  of  comparative  peace,  and 
industry,  and  the  happy  influence  that  a  race  of  resi- 
dent lords  will  shed  over  a  territory  inhabited  by 
grateful  and  attached  dependents.  What  a  prey 
was  here  for  the  spoiler's  eye  to  rest  upon  !  How- 
many  powerful  incentives  moved  his  relentless  spirit 
to  decide  its  doom  ! 

Here  was,  first,  a  wealthy  land,  abounding  in  the 
choicest  fruits  of  the  earth,  and  in  the  acquired 
treasures  that  affluent  ease  had  loved  to  accumulate. 
Stately  mansions,  the  castle  that  frowned  defiance 
on  hostile  arms ;  the  church  of  magnificent  archi- 
tecture and  of  costly  endowments  ;  the  palace  where 
luxur}  spread  her  most  gorgeous  couch  ;  the  wart- 


84  ANTICHRIST. 

house  heaped  with  valuable  merchandise;  the  man- 
ufactory with  its  abundant  productions  in  every 
branch  of  industry  within  the  reach  of  an  ingenious 
people.  The  sons  of  the  soil,  wel!  fitted  to  enrich 
by  their  labor  any  conqueror  who  might  enslave 
them,  and  its  lovely  daughters,  a  yet  more  tempting 
prey  in  the  eyes  of  those  licentious  savages  whom 
Rome  delighted  to  train  for  her  "  holy  wars,"  by 
heaping  fuel  on  every  earth-born,  every  hell-born 
flame  that  burnt  within  them. 

Such  was  the  prize :  the  incentives  were  many 
and  strong.  That  any  nation  should  dare  to  exist  in 
a  state  approaching  independence  was  not  to  be  per- 
mitted ;  but  when  that  growing  independence  might 
be  traced  to  the  avowed  prevalence  of  Gospel  light 
among  the  people  ;  when  the  yoke  of  superstition 
sat  loosely  on  their  necks,  and  the  thunders  of  the 
Church  rolled  unheeded  over  their  heads,  it  was  in- 
deed time  for  the  sovereign  pontiff  to  look  to  it.  In 
this  very  year,  the  daring  contumacy  of  John  pro- 
voked the  visitation  of  an  interdict  under  which 
England  groaned  for  six  years  ;  and  the  slight  re- 
g;ird  paid  by  the  king  and  nobles  of  France  to  Inno- 
cent's vehement  appeals  against  heresy,  urged  him 
yet  more  to  immediate  action.  He  had  besides,  wit- 
nessed a  falling-off  in  the  ardor  of  the  Eastern  cru- 
saders, which  could  not  be  rekindled  by  any  of  the 
arts  that  had  first  inspired  it.  The  Saracens  had 
possession  of  Jerusalem,  and  were  in  little  danger 
of  being  driven  thence  by  the  nominal  Christians 


ANTICHRIST.  85 

These  last  had  found  the  length  of  the  way,  its 
numberless  perils,  the  formidable  power  of  the  ene- 
my who  resisted  them,  and,  above  all,  perhaps,  the 
exhaustion  of  such"  spoil  as  the  country  had  once 
offered  to  the  grasp,  more  than  a  sufficient  counter- 
poise to  the  reversionary  guarantee  of  a  place  in 
paradise,  which  they  knew  could  be  purchased  at 
Rome  on  other  and  easier  terms.  Little  remained 
of  the  original  spirit  of  the  crusades,  beyond  the 
sanguinary,  licentious,  plundering  dispositions  im- 
planted and  increased  in  the  bosoms  of  the  adven- 
turers: and  to  give  all  these  free  course  in  a  war 
with  the  saints  of  God,  was  a  thought  worthy  of  the 
vicegerent  of  Satan. 

Shall  we  pace  again  the  marble  halls  of  his  pal- 
ace, and  enter  the  apartment  of  the  Man  of  Sin, 
where,  with  ten  added  years  upon  his  frowning 
brow,  years  of  ripened  power,  and  pride,  and  malig- 
nity, and  hatred  against  Christ,  he  sits  engaged  in 
the  prosecution  of  what,  in  the  wilderness  of  Judea, 
his  master  began  ?  He  is  causing,  in  his  vivid  de- 
scription, the  honor,  and  the  glory,  and  the  beauty 
of  tiiose  peaceful  provinces  to  pass  before  the  eyes 
of  some  who  will  again  and  again  renew  their  idol- 
atrous worship  of  him  in  order  to  grasp  them.'  He 
is  putting  heaven  itself  up  to  sale,  as.  the  more 
seemly  prize  for  him,  the  pretended  head  of  th«: 
church,  to  offer  for  services  that  are  to  repay  them- 
selves on  the  spot  by  an  unlimited  appropriation  of 
whatsoever  they  can  wrest  from  the  victim's  grasp. 
8 


86  ANTICHRIST. 

He  sets  forth,  in  that  atrocious  document,  that  tha 
crime  of  holding  a  pure  faith,  based  on  the  Holy 
Scriptures,  is  far  greater  in  the  sight  of  the  Most 
High  than  those  of  the  most  depraved  Pagans  ;  and 
that  the  sin  of  withholding  divine  honors  from  them 
which  be  no  gods,  equally  exceeds  the  pollution  of 
holy  places,  heretofore  held  out  as  crying  for  ven- 
geance, at  the  peril  of  their  souls  who  should  fail 
to  punish  it.  Accordingly,  though  in  point  of  dis- 
tance, of  danger,  of  difficulty,  such  a  crusade  is  not 
worthy  to  be  named  in  comparison  with  the  former 
expeditions,  he  proffers  as  high  terms  to  all  who 
shall  take  the  cross  against  Raymond  of  Toulouse,  for 
the  purpose  at  once  of  deposing  him,  and  of  exter- 
minating the  people  of  the  Lord  sheltered  under  his 
protection,  as  ever  were  granted  to  their  fathers, 
when  setting  forth  to  expel  the  Saracens  from  Pal- 
estine. To  all  who  engage  in  the  enterprise,  he 
grants  full  remission  of  every  sin  against  God  and 
man  committed  in  the  course  of  their  lives  :  to  all 
who  shall  fall  in  the  conflict  he  guarantees  an  im- 
mediate welcome  into  the  presence  and  to  the  throne 
of  God  ;  while  for  such  as  conquer,  he  has,  in  addi- 
tion to  these  insubstantial  prospects,  a  catalogue  of 
what  they  may  seize  and  enjoy,  sufficient  to  inflame 
the  coldest  heart  of  sluggish  man  while  he  glances 
over  it.  To  those  who,  having  a  military  force  at 
their  disposal,  be  they  crowned  nings  or  lords  of 
some  petty  barony,  shall  hold  back  from  the  work, 
ne  speaks  only  mena(  %s  that  embrace  both  time  and 


ANTICHRIST.  87 

eternity.  They  also  shall  be  given  over  to  the  same 
deadly  revenge,  as  abettors  of  God's  enemies,  and 
traitors  to  the  Church ;  and  hereafter  their  portion 
shall  be  in  the  lake  of  unquenchable  fire.  True  type 
of  the  ruler  of  modern  Babylon  was  the  yet  untamed 
despot  who  set  up  his  gigantic  idol  of  gold  on  the 
plains  of  Dura:  "Who  is  that  God  or  man  that 
shall  deliver  you  out  of  my  hand  ?"  But  there  the 
resemblance  ends  ;  Nebuchadnezzar,  humbled  under 
the  mighty  hand  of  God,  lived  to  glorify  him,  and 
died  in  peace  :  Lotharius  de  Signi  feared  not,  re- 
pented not,  and  the  measure  that  he  meted  out  to 
others,  the  mercy  that  he  showed  to  the  harmless 
flock  of  Christ,  must  be  the  measure  of  God's  ter- 
rible dealings  with  his  ruined  soul. 

Such,  it  may  be  objected,  is  not  the  language  of 
Christian  charity  :  but  it  is  the  language  of  Chris- 
tian truth,  and  who  shall  say  that  these  two  attri- 
butes of  our  most  holy  faith  may  be  separated  ? 
Charity  is  a  Christian  grace,  and,  as  such,  it  cannot 
stand  in  opposition  to  the  holy/oot  whence  it  pro- 
ceeds :  it  cannot  call  evil  good,  or  darkness  light, 
or  put  sweet  for  bitter.  We,  at  least,  will  not  incur 
the  responsibility  of  so  doing.  We  find  the  "  son 
of  perdition  "  at  his  appointed  work,  and  we  recog- 
nize him,  and  shudder.  It  may  be  well  here  to 
note  in  brief  outline  the  plan  on  which  Innocent 
III.  was  bringing  to  bear  all  the  powers  alike  of  his 
natural  character,  and  of  his  acquired  position. 

In  the  first  place,  he  prepares  a  bull,  breathing 


88  ANTICHRIST. 

«ill  Jie  vengeful  hostility  of  his  spirit  against  the 
Count  of  Toulouse,  as  the  presumed  instigator  of 
Castelnau's  assassination  ;  characterizing  him  as  the 
principal  minister  of  the  devil,  and  commanding  a 
public  anathema  to  be  pronounced  against  him  in 
every  church  throughout  Southern  Gaul,  to  the 
princes  and  barons  of  which  the  manifesto  was  ad- 
dressed, adding  these  words:  "And  as,  following 
the  canonical  sanctions  of  the  holy  fathers,  we  must 
not  observe  faith  towards  those  who  keep  not  faith 
towards  God,  or  who  are  separated  from  the  com- 
munion of  the  faithful,  we  discharge  by  apostolical 
authority,  all  those  who  believe  themselves  bound 
towards  this  count,  by  any  oath  either  of  alliance 
or  of  fidelity  :  we  permit  every  catholic  man,  saving 
the  right  of  his  principal  lord,  to  pursue  his  person, 
to  occupy  and  retain  his  territories,  especially  for  the 
purpose  of  exterminating  heresy."  Moreover,  he 
laid  under  an  interdict  any  and  every  place  that 
should  afford  a  shelter  to  the  murderers  of  Peter 
Castelnau.  • 

His  next  step  was  to  stir  up  the  fiery  brotherhood 
of  Citeaux,  Bernardines,  to  take  the  lead  in  the 
movement  against  the  Albigenses  ;  nominating  their 
abbot,  Arnold  Amalric,  as  his  legate,  and  sending 
them  forth  in  a  swarm  to  overrun  the  neighboring 
provinces  ;  with  a  mission  similar  to  that  of  Peter 
the  hermit  in  former  days.  He  authorized  them  to 
secure  pardon  and  paradise  to  all  who  should  take 
up  tb  .1  cross  against  the  hen  tics ;  and  by  this  move- 


ANTICHRIST.  89 

ment  insured  the  speedy  assembling  of  such  an  army 
as  was  needed  to  execute  his  designs.  The  zeal  with 
which  these  men  of  peace  obeyed  the  sanguinary 
command,  fully  justified  the  confidence  placed  in 
them.  He  then  established  a  new  order,  under  the 
leadership  of  Dominic,  the  Spanish  monk,  whose 
business  it  was  to  go  in  pairs  through  all  the  towns 
and  villages  of  the  condemned  districts,  preaching, 
admonishing,  and  contending  against  the  faith  once 
delivered  to  the  saints.  They  were  to  preserve  the 
aspect  of  great  sanctity,  zeal,  and  self-devotion  ;  in 
every  way  to  wia  the  respect  and  confidence  of  such 
as  had  not  wholly  cast  off  their  allegiance  to  the 
church,  and  while  strengthening  them  in  the  ancient 
errors,  to  draw  from  them  all  that  they  knew  respect- 
ing the  persons,  occupations,  places  of  resort,  and 
other  particulars  connected  with  their  Albigensic 
friends  a«d  neighbors.  Foulques,  the  bishop,  whose 
early  accomplishments  as  a  troubadour  had  been 
enlisted  into  the  ecclesiastical  service,  and  for  a 
time  captivated  the  Toulousians,  became  an  eminent 
leader  in  this  preaching  order ;  subsequently  merged 
in  that  horrible  creation  of  Rome,  the  Inquisition. 

What  more  has  Innocent  to  do,  after  thus  craftily 
disposing  all  the  means  at  his  command  to  draw  th« 
snare  around  his  prey  ?  He  looks  with  a  satisfied 
eye  upon  the  well-digested  scheme,  and  seizes  once 
more  the  pen  to  address  those  whose  practised  mili- 
tary skill  must  consummate  his  design.  Once  more 
be  summons  Philip  Augustus  to  assume  in  person 
8* 


W  ANTICHRIST. 

the  direction  of  the  war;  and  with  everj  promise  of 
success,  he  also  calls  on  the  Duke  of  Bur  '\rndy  ;  t1w< 
Count  of  Leicester,  Simon  de  Montfort ;  and  other 
nobles  of  high  note,  who  were  sure  to  hear  from 
the  prelates  of  their  various  provinces^the  continual 
iteration  of  the  pope's  requisition.  Some  (ins  may 
elapse  ere  the  vast  machinery  thus  prepared  can  be 
brought  to  commence  working  ;  but  never  since 
Rome's  pagan  myriads  had  revelled  in  the  life-blood 
of  the  earlier  followers  of  Jesus  within  their  ane.it.nt 
colosseum,  had  so  large  a  feast  of  martyr-blood  been 
catered  for  as  that  which  now  grew  and  flowed  be- 
fore the  mental  vision  of  Lotharius  de  Signi,  as  ho 
planned  the  mighty  havoc  of  a  new  crusade  within 
the  secret  chambers  of  <he  Vatican.  Well  may 
Rome  emblazon  and  glory  inkier  appropriate  mottOj 
SEMPER  KADEHL. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  CRUSADERS. 

THE  threefol  1  object  of  the  aggressor  was,  first  to 
tC  destroy  by  a  violent  and  cruel  death  all  such  as 
dared  to  obey  God  rather  than  man  ;  worshipping 
with  a  holy  worship,  in  spirit  and  in  truth,  the  God 
of  the  spirits  of  all  flesh,  who  seeks  spiritual  wor- 
shippers to  do  him  Ijonor ;  and  drawing  nigh  unto 
him  by  the  living  way,  opened  through  the  flesh  of 
his  only  begotten  Son,  Jesus  Christ.  These  must 
be  cut  off;  for  the  faith  which  they  held,  recom- 
mended by  practice  no  less  pure,  was  ruinous  to  the 
kingdom  of  Antichrist.  Secondly,  those  who,  with- 
out embracing  their  doctrines  had  tolerated  them, 
and  who  were  living  in  neighborly  good- will  with  the 
Lord's  peaceful  followers,  must  be,  as  far  as  possi- 
ble, involved  in  their  destruction ;  both  because  of 
the  undiscovered  extent  to  which  the  taint  might 
have  secretly  spread  itself,  and  in  order  to  quicken 
others,  in  different  places,  to  the  work  of  immediate 
extermination,  whensoever  they  should  discover  the 
entrance  among  them  of  that  which  was  pregnant 
with  such  direfu'.  consequences  to  its  fosterers. 


8?  THE  CRUSADERS, 

Thirdly,  to  subdue  the  dangerous  spirit  of  indepen- 
dence recently  manifested  among  the  nobles,  who 
could  even  dare  to  protect  their  own  subjects  from 
the  tyranny  of  the  universal  despot.  To  pass  the 
besom  of  indiscriminate  destruction  over  the  whole 
suHace  of  the  infected  provinces,  was  the  only  cer- 
tain method  of  accomplishing  so  extensive  an  end ; 
and  this  it  was  resolved  to  do. 

The  instruments  were  worthy  of  the  work.  No 
doubt  there  were  among  them  some  who  believed 
that  the  Moloch  to  whom  Rome  offered  up  her  heca- 
tombs, was  indeed  the  God  of  heaven,  and  Father 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ :  and  that  in  obeying  her 
sanguinary  behests,  they  were  doing  him  service ; 
but  the  greater  number  were  debauched  despera- 
does, who,  having  no  relish  for  the  gentler  walks  of 
life,  no  disposition  towards  industrious  pursuits,  nor 
talent  to  acquire  the  means  of  gratifying  their  ava- 
ricious propensities  otherwise  than  by  plunder,  were 
ripe  for  this  or  for  any  other  outrage.  We  must  also 
look  deeper  into  the  constitution  of  the  army  ;  it 
was  composed  of  such  as  at  Satan's  own  instigation 
dime  forward  to  enrol  themselves  under  his  banner; 
renewing  and  prolonging  the  memorable  combat  in 
the  wilderness.  How  awful  is  the  thought  that  the 
evil  spirit,  yea,  multitudes  of  the  fallen  angels  who 
acknowledge  him  as  their  prince  and  leader,  should 
have  entered  the  abodes  and  the  hearts  of  thousands 
of  nominal  Christians,  gathering  them  together  to  a 
partial  and  preliminary  battle  against  the  Lord  God 


THE    CRUSADERS.  93 

Almighty — preliminary  to  the  last  grand  struggle 
of  the  coming  Armageddon,  even  as  it  was  a  sequel 
to  the  first  encounter  in  the  desert  of  Judeai 
It  was  "  that  old  dragon,  which  is  the  devil  and 
Satan,"  who  now,  by  the  instrumentality  of  the 
papal  beast,  made  war  upon  the  saints ;  and  all  that 
was  his, — the  kingdoms  of  the  world,  their  power 
and  glory,  either  swelled  the  advancing  host,  or  fell 
in  prostrate  submission  before  it. 

It  was  a  spectacle  of  pride  for  the  arch-fiend  to 
contemplate,  when  the  vast  body  of  assailants  was 
assembled,  and  put  in  motion.  They  wore  upon 
their  breasts  the  Nehushtan  of  the  Christian  dis- 
pensation :  the  cross,  by  idolatrous  perversion,  ren- 
dered a  needless  offence  toman,  and  an  abomination 
before  God.  Not  the  cross  in  which  Paul  glo- 
ried ;  not  the  cross  that  crucified  him  to  the  world, 
and  the  world  to  him  ;  not  the  cross  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  by  which  we  understand  his  vicarious 
death,  undergoing  a  judicial  curse  on  our  behalf, 
that  so  he  might  redeem  us  from  the  curse  of  the 
law  ;  but  the  paltry  representation  of  a  Roman  gib- 
bet, on  the  original  of  which  hundreds  may  have 
suffered  death  before  and  after  HIM  whose  precious 
blood  was  shed  for  our  redemption ;  and  the  reten- 
tion of  which,  as  a  thing  to  be  venerated  in  the 
Christian  Church,  is  one  of  the  inexplicable  marvels 
to  which  habit,  not  reason  or  religion,  reconciles  us 
This  cross,  the  c  •usaders  of  the  East  were  wont  to 
wear  upon  the  .houlder ;  but,  as  if  to  show  how 


94  THK    CRUSADERS. 

much  nearer  to  their  hearts  was  trie  work  cf  she<l« 
ding  kindred  blood,  the  invaders  of  Provence  placed 
it  on  their  breast.  On  appearing  in  this  badge, 
equipped  for  the  expedition,  each  hoary  transgres- 
sor, e.tch  wild  reckless  boy,  each  savage  freebooter 
and  remorseless  manslayer,  was  entitled  to  receive 
a  full  acquittance  of  his  vast  debt,  past  and  to  come, 
to  the  justice,  the  purity  of  the  Most  High  God. 
He  engaged  to  serve  for  forty  days,  destroying  with 
fire  and  sword  whosoever  and  whatsoever  was 
pointed  out  to  him  as  lying  under  the  ban  of  Rome  ; 
and  he,  in  return,  had  forgiveness  of  all  his  sins,  and 
a  free  entrance  into  the  paradise  of  God,  guaranteed 
to  him  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 
Truly,  the  most  wonderful  part  of  the  mystery  01 
iniquity  is  the  inconceivable  length  of  Satan's  daring, 
when  he  ventured  to  offer  to  the  rational  creatures 
of  God  a  lie  so  enormous,  so  repulsive,  and  so  gross 
is  this.  We  turn  with  horror  from  the  scene,  over 
which  the  devil  and  his  angels  must  have  exulted 
with  amazement  at  their  own  success,  to  take  a  sur- 
vey of  the  devoted  regions — the  terrified  population 
on  whom  this  torrent  of  cruelty  was  preparing  to 
burst. 

And  first  for  Count  Raymond.  Had  he  been  par- 
taker even  in  a  very  small  measure  of  the  like  pre- 
cious faith  with  those  whom  he  had  hitherto  pro- 
tected, the  gathering  of  those  war-clouds,  and  mut- 
tering?; of  the  rising  storm,  would  but  have  dri\  i 
him  more  close  to  the  shelter  of  the  everlasting  Rock, 


THE    CRUSADERS.  95 

against  which  ths  gates  of  hell  rage  in  vain.  He 
would  have  strengthened  himself  in  his  God ;  and 
not  feared  what  man  could  do  unto  him.  Having 
virtually  admitted  that  the  Church  of  Rome  was  & 
false  pretender  to  infallibility,  and  an  usurper  of 
universal  dominion,  by  openly  encouraging  those' 
who  renounced  her  worship  and  denied  her  au- 
thority, he  would  have  resolved  to  maintain  his  own 
independence,  his  right,  yea,  his  solemn  duty  to  de- 
fend the  harmless  and  helpless  flock  of  Christ,  com- 
mitted to  his  temporal  keeping;  and  he  would  have 
exerted  his  utmost  influence  among  the  nobles  around 
him,  many  of  whom  were  already  predisposed  to  the 
same  course ;  assured  that  God  would  exert  His 
prerogative,  and  fu!61  His  promise,  making  him,  in 
life  or  in  death,  more  than  conqueror.  But  such, 
alas !  was  not  Raymond  of  Toulouse :  he  had  re- 
ceived the  mark  of  the  beast  on  his  forehead,  aYid  in 
his  right  hand :  he  professed  the  doctrines  of  Rome, 
and  had  often  wrought  out  her  own  unholy  will,  by 
the  power  of  his  sword,  and  in  the  exercise  of  his  au- 
thority ;  and  now  it  was  his  choice,  not  to  have  this 
mark  washed  away  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb,  but  to 
appeal  to  it  as  a  defence  against  the  vengeance  of  his 
enraged  tyrant.  His  own  territories,  he.  well  knew, 
and  his  own  person  too,  were  marked  for  an  especial 
visitation  :  the  death  of  Castlenau,  in  which  he  does 
not  appear  to  have  been  at  all  implicated,  was  laid 
at  his  door;  and  on  him  was  the  first  fierce  outburst 
of  long- restrained  enmity  sure  to  expend  itself.  The 


96  THE    CRUSADERS. 

pope  had  apjtointed  Arnold  Amnlric  Abbot  of  Ci- 
teaux,  legate  in  that  part  of  the  countiy  ;  a  man  who 
combined  in  his  character  every  leading  feature  o* 
the  papacy  itself.  Fierce,  implacable,  unmerciful ; 
inflated  with  pride,  and  envenomed  by  the  bitterest 
hatred  against  Christ's  people ;  without  a  touch  ot 
natural  feeling,  even  towards  those  of  his  own  com- 
munion, as  the  event  proved,  this  haughty  priest 
seems  to  have  been  an  incarnation  of  some  fallen 
spirit,  intent  only  on  trampling  down  as  much  as 
came  within  his  reach  of  the  glorious  handiworks  of 
God.  Raymond  knew  with  whom  he  had  to  deal ; 
and  he  quailed  as  a  poor,  unassisted  mortal  might  be 
expected  to  do,  when  brought  into  direct  collision 
with  principalities  and  powers,  the  rulers  of  the  dark- 
ness of  this  world,  and  wicked  spirits  in  high  places. 
He  summoned  his  nephew,  Raymond  Roger,  to  his 
sidte,  and  prepared  to  present  himself  with  him  be- 
fore the  arrogant  legate  at  Aubenaz. 

Raymond  Roger  differed  in  many  points  from  his 
uncle  ;  having  been  placed  under  more  favorable  cir- 
cumstances. He  was  only  ten  years  of  age  when 
the  fair  patrimony  of  Alby,  Bezieres,  Carcassonne, 
and  Limouse,  devolved  on  him  at  his  father's  death  ; 
and  those  who  governed  for  him  during  a  long  mi- 
nority, not  only  favored  the  persons,  but  appear 
to  have  siincerely  appreciated  the  doctrines  of  the 
Albigenses.  The  young  count  was  now  four-and- 
twenty  ;  with  all  the  generous  ardor  of  that  age 
fairly  enlisted  on  behalf  of  those  whom  Rome  had 


THE    CRUSA0ERS.  97 

now  coomed  to  utter  destruction  ;  and  surely  he  was 
not  himself  very  far  from  the  kingdom  of  God. 
The  great  day  will  reveal  whether  he  attained  to  it, 
through  the  "  much  tribulation"  that  he  was  des- 
tined to  endure  for  the  cause,  which  grace  was  not 
given  him  to  identify  himself  with,  in  spiritual  as 
he  did  in  temporal  matters.  He  certainly  stands 
out  in  very  bright  and  beatiful  contrast  to  his  un- 
happy uncle. 

At  Aubenaz,  enthroned  in  all  the  gaudy  pomp  of 
sacerdotal  vicegerency,  sat  the  inflated  Arnold  ;  and 
around  him  were  assembled  those  whose  pitiable 
distinction  it  was,  to  be  nominated  chiefs  in  this  un- 
holy war.  The  two  counts  sought  an  audience,  and 
were  received  with  studied  scorn  and  contumely  by 
the  legate,  who  scarcely  deigned  to  give  ear  to  their 
protestations  of  unshaken  allegiance  to  the  papacy. 
The  charge  of  holding  any  opinions  by  Rome  branded 
as  heretical,  they  both  repelled ;  demanding  a  fair 
trial  to  clear  them  from  this  aspersion,  and  also  of 
the  false  accusation  of  having  been  accessory  to  the 
death  of  Castelnau.  But  the  only  reply  thut  they 
could  elicit  from  Arnold  was  a  refusal  to  interfere, 
with  a  haughty  intimation,  that  if  they  sought  any 
mitigation  of  impending  punishment,  they  must 
carry  (heir  submission  to  Rome. 

The  terms  of  their  submission  were  well  under- 
stood by  the  kinsmen,  who  retired  to  canvass  the  sub- 
ject, on  which  they  so  differed  as  to  part  in  mutual 
warmth.  The  Count  of  Beziers  saw,  with  indigua- 
9 


99  1HE    CRUSADERS. 

tion,  tliit  his  uncle  was  prepared  to  purchase  such 
peace  and  safety  as  might  be  gained  by  the  unqual- 
ified surrender  of  his  poor  inoffensive  Christian  de- 
pendents into  the  hand  of  their  sanguinary  foes  : 
that  he  was  willing  to  become  himself  the  execu- 
tioner of  every  murderous  decree  against  them,  and 
by  force  of  arms  to  compel  the  nobles  around,  inclu- 
ding Raymond  Roger  himself,  into  a  like  course  of 
purveying  human  victims  for  the  shambles  of  Inno- 
cent ill.  He  protested  that  rather  than  see  the 
crusading  army  enter  the  province  of  Toulouse,  he 
would  turn  his  hand  against  his  next  of  kin  ;  and 
by  the  most  zealous  execution  of  all  their  behests, 
conciliate  the  dreaded  ecclesiastics,  in  whose  hands 
the  fate  of  princes  was  placed.  He  resolved  to  ap- 
peal for  assistance  in  carrying  out  this  plan,  to  Philip 
Augustus  of  France,  who  was  his  cousin  ;  and  to 
Otho  of  Germany  ;  while  his  lowliest,  most  unre- 
served submission  .should  be  laid,  by  fitting  ambas- 
sadors, at  the  footstool  of  the  papal  throne.  To  the 
young,  generous,  and  partially  enlightened  Raymond 
Roger,  this  sounded  as  the  language  of  dastardly 
fear,  and  cruel  treachery :  and  the  moi-e  so  as  it  di- 
rectly menaced,  not  only  the  subjects  of  the  Count 
of  Toulouse,  but  his  own,  and  the  whole  body  of 
.the  so  called  heretics  throughout  the  region.  He, 
therefore,  avowed  his  determination  of  putting  his 
territories  into  a  state  of  defence,  and  of  faithfully 
preserving  what  was  committed  to  his  charge  ;  and 
they  took  their  sevei  il  ways,  with  feelings  and  pur- 


THK    CKUSADERS.  99 

poses  as  dissimilar  as  those  of  any  two  men  could 
be  wl  o  still  outwardly  wore  the  same  badge  of  alle- 
giance to  the  See  of  Rome. 

It  is  difficult  to  decide  what  was  the  real  tempei 
of  mind  of  the  young  count,  on  the  important  sub- 
ject of  religion.  Probably  he  had  no  fixed  views, 
no  serious  impressions  as  yet,  concerning  it.  Born 
and  reared  in  the  very  lap  of  Provencal  refinement, 
nurtured  in  poetry  and  romance,  and  full  of  the 
spirit  of  chivalry,  apart  from  all  the  stern  fanati- 
cism that  had  rendered  it  too  generally  a  sangui- 
nary scourge  of  the  helpless,  a  hideous  engine  in  the 
hands  of  ecclesiastical  tyranny,  the  youthful  noble 
had  looked  forward  to  the  time  when  he  should  in 
his  own  person  become  the  mild  and  impartial  ruler 
of  a  loving  people  ;  the  fearless  defender  of  his  own 
rights  and  .theirs  ;  the  patron  of  literature  and  art ; 
the  promoter  of  a  generous  liberality,  which  he  had 
learned  to  admire  in  the  guardians  of  his  long  mi- 
nority. All  this  he  might  be  without  giving  relig- 
ion any  prominent  place  in  his  regards  :  he  might 
deem  it  right,  consistent,  and  expedient,  to  worship 
externally  where  his  long  line  of  ancestors  had  wor- 
shipped ;  at  the  same  time  readily  according  toother 
men  their  own  free  choice  in  the  same  matter.  He 
was  lord  of  the  temporalities  of  a  wide  domain  ; 
and  he  found  another  power  claiming  supremacy  iu 
spiritual  things,  including  a  very  substantial  proper. 
fion  of  worldly  wealth,  by  long-  custom  and  by  gen- 


100  THE    CRUSADERS. 

era!  consent,  secured  to  them  as  the  remuneration  of 
their  sacerdotal  labors. 

With  this  order  of  things  he  did  not  feel  himself 
disposed  to  interfere  ;  and  we  must  regard  his  pro- 
fessions of  unshaken  fidelity  to  the  papacy,  as  a 
simple  avowal  of  such  acquiescence  in  the  laws  of 
his  country.  Here  lie  drew  tlie  line  ;  he  would  be 
the  servant  of  Rome  just  so  far;  but  to  do  her  sav- 
age bidding  in  the  slaughter  or  even  the  abandon- 
ment of  his  innocent  people ;  to  stain  his  knightly 
honor  with  perfidy  so  deep,  and  to  purchase  the 
continued  enjoyment  of  his  princely  birthright,  at 
the  price  of  permitting  a  horde  of  ruffians  to  riot  in 
the  bloodshed  of  his  subjects,  and  the  plunder  of 
his  land,  far  from  the  bosom  of  Raymond  Roger 
was  a  thought  so  base  as  this!  His  honest  profes- 
sion of  spiritual  allegiance  had  been  spurned  :  his 
demand  for  a  fair  investigation  into  the  matter  of  a 
murder  with  which  he  was  not  even  remotely  con- 
nected, was  denied  ;  and  he  was  insultingly  told  to 
repair  to  the  chief  ecclesiastic  at  Rome,  in  the  char- 
acter of  a  criminal  suing  for  a  commutation  of  his 
sentence.  We  may  very  well  enter  into  the  feelings 
with  which  the  young  chieftain  quitted  the  presence 
of  the  legate,  and  subsequently  parted  in  anger  from 
his  cpwed  and  dishonored  kinsman,  without  enroll- 
ing him  among  the  persecuted  saints  on  whom  the 
war  was  about  to  burst.  We  can  conceive  him,  ic 
the  honest  pride  of  an  authority  never  by  him 
abused,  summoning  around  him  his  knights,  and 


THE   CKUSADERS.  101 

burgesses,  and  the  bold  youths  who  tiad  grown  up 
with  him  in  the  peaceful  luxury  of  his  court;  repre- 
senting to  them  the  contumacious  wrong  that  he 
had  suffered  at  the  hands  of  the  pope's  representa- 
tive ;  and  kindling  their  indignation  by  the  recital  o» 
its  effect  on  Raymond  of  Toulouse  ;  whose  defection 
from  the  cause  of  justice  and  independence,  only 
roused  to  a  higher  pitch  their  determination,  un- 
flinchingly to  uphold  it.  The  result  was  an  imme- 
diate application  of  all  hands,  to  the  work  of  forti- 
fying the  various  towns  and  castles  within  his  do- 
minions;  and  a  bold  resolve  to  be  before-hand  with 
the  Count  of  Toulouse  in  warlike  demonstrations  of 
their  intended  line  of  conduct. 

Military  ardor,  attachment  to  their  young  lord, 
love  of  justice,  impatience  of  oppression,  and  the 
scorn  that  the  ecclesiastics  had  generally  brought  on 
their  order,  combined  with  a  feeling  of  generous 
sympathy  and  respect  for  their  Albigensic  compa- 
triots, no  doubt  formed  the  chief  ingredients  in  the 
devotedness  of  Raymond  Roger's  followers  to  the 
cause  that  he  had  so  manfully  espoused  :  but  min- 
gled with  these  there  were  the  real  objects  of  this 
Satanic  war,  the  children  of  God,  who  served  him 
in  the  Gospel  of  his  Son.  These  wrought  with  their 
neighbors  on  the  ramparts,  and  the  walls  ;  and  aided 
in  every  defensive  work ;  but  they  did  it  in  the  spirit 
of  the  Jews  who  labored  under  Nehemiah  upon  the 
rising  bulwarks  of  Jerusalem.  Though  they  used 
every  means  to  strengthen  those  earthly  de'ences, 
9* 


102  THE -CRflSADERS. 

the  hope  of  thtir  hearts  spoke  but  one  language, 
"  The  God  of  heaven,  lie  will  prosper  us."  Though 
they  furbished  the  shield,  and  sharpened  the  spear 
and  made  fast  the  rivets  of  knightly  mail,  yet  they 
trusted  in  none  of  these,  nor  in  the  fidelity  of  the 
noble  Count  himself  to  their  cause  :  they  sheltered 
themselves  behind  the  shield  of  faith ;  the  weapon 
which  alone  they  knew  to  be  mighty  was  the  word 
of  God,  precious  fragments  of  which  they  possessed, 
each  in  itself  a  sharp  sword,  sufficient  to  hold  the 
enemy  of  their  souls  at  bay.  The  whole  armor  of 
God  secured  them  from  shafts  that  aimed  to  wound 
their  immortal  spirits ;  what  they  might  suffer  at 
the  hands  of  those  who  had  power  to  kill  the  body., 
was  to  them  no  matter  of  deep  concern ;  they  feared 
only  Him  who  can  destroy  both  body  and  soul  iri 
hell ;  and  knowing  the  great  love  of  God  that  had 
not  spared  his  own  Son,  but  delivered  him  up  as  a 
ransom  for  them,  they  also  were  filled  with  the  per- 
fect love  that  casteth  out  all  tormenting  fear.  They 
had  two  main  objects  of  prayerful  interest :  their 
own  perseverance  unto  death  in  the  profession  of  a 
true  faith,  and  the  fate  of  their  still  unconverted  but 
generous  and  devoted  countrymen  rallying  around 
them  in  the  hour  of  their  darkest  trial.  No  one  can 
say  what  multitudes  were  brought  to  God  in  the 
course  of  that  fearful  struggle,  what  a  harvest  of 
souls  was  reaped  for  heaven  in  those  fields  of  blood  ; 
how  many,  long  halting  between  two  opinions,  01 
unawakened  to  any  feeling  at  all  on  the  subject, 


THE   CRUSADERS.  103 

wero  won  to  C.'hrist  by  the  conversation,  by  the  faith, 
patience,  endurance  of  his  tried  servants.  No  one 
can  say,  how,  in  the  midst  of  his  infernal  exultation 
over  the  writhing  bodies  of  the  martyrs,  the  fiend 
was  tortured  by  seeing  heaven's  golden  portals 
thrown  wide  to  receive  a  host  of  contrite  spirits, 
called,  justified,  glorified,  with  the  rapidity  that 
marked  the  dying  malefactor's  conversion  on  Cal- 
vary, rendering  the  scene  of  his  apparent  triumph 
one  of  aggravated  loss,  defeat,  and  shame. 

These  are  among  the  secret  things  that  belong  to 
God  alone ;  but  that  they  do  occur  we  have  many 
delightful  intimations.  "  Except  a  man  be  born 
again,  he  cannot  enter  the  kingdom  of  God."  Thi? 
we  know,  and  we  watch  for  evidences  of  that  new 
birth  into  the  heirship  of  heaven ;  and  we  know 
them  by  their  fruits,  who  have  thus  passed  from 
death  unto  life.  But  the  moment  at  which  a  soul  is 
so  born,  who  shall  determine  ?  It  is  some  moment 
known  to  the  Father  of  spirits  :  it  is  some  point  of 
time,  when  it  can  be  said,  "  This  thy  brother  was 
dead,  and  is  alive  again  ;"  some  moment  when  the 
angels  of  God  burst  into  a  song  of  joy,  because  a 
sinner  has  repented,  believes,  and  is  put  in  posses- 
sion of  everlasting  life.  It  is  done  before  man  can 
perceive  any  trace  of  it :  Ananias,  a  just  man,  a  be- 
lieving, obedient  servant  of  the  Lord,  favored  with 
revelation  too,  was  utterly  staggered  when  told  to 
go  and  greet  Saul  of  Tarsus  with  a  message  of  love. 
He  even  1  xpostulatt A  ;  but  the  answer  was  conclu- 


104  THE   CTHTSADERS, 

sive,  "  Go  thy  way  ;  for  he  is  a  chosen  vessel  untc 
me."  Oh)  the  depth  of  the  riches  of  redeeming 
love ! 

We  should  stand  amazed  indeed,  could  we  trace 
all  ,hat  is  wrought  by  it  in  the  world  around  us; 
and  more,  we  should  become  careless,  presuming, 
neglectful  of  our  own  great  work  in  using  means 
for  the  accomplishment  of  what  the  Lord  has  Avilied 
to  do.  Yet  it  is  a  cordial,  good  in  such  seasons  of 
trial  to  our  faith,  as  this  to  the  melancholy  details 
of  which  we  are  reluctantly  drawing  nigh.  It  is 
good  to  remember  that  the  Lord's  little  nock  had 
been,  as  the  testimony  of  their  enemies  abundantly 
shows,  disseminating  the  truths  of  the  Gospel  on 
every  side,  among  friendly  listeners,  who  were  able 
to  test  the  doctrine  by  the  daily  walk  of  those  who 
proclaimed  it;  and  to  whom  it  was  now  to  be  given 
to  witness  the  power  of  God  in  them,  triumphing 
over  death  and  hell  ;  while  that  foul  system  against 
which  they  had  steadily  protested,  was  made  to 
stand  forth  in  the  utmost  hideousness  of  its  naked 
atrocity,  a  combination  of  all  that  was  diabolical. 
Alike  the  dying  prayers  of  the  innocent  victims, 
and  the  yells  of  their  infuriated  murderers,  must 
have  spoken  a  language  that  few  hearts  could  re- 
eiot,  "  Come  out  of  her,  my  people !" 

Yes,  many  did  come  out  of  her,  who  died  with  a 
rosary  at  their  girdle,  and  a  crucifix  in  their  bosoms, 
before  they  had  time  to  cast  them  off.  Many,  and 
we  delight  to  believe  that  Raymond  Roger  was 


THE    CRUSADERS.  105 

among  them,  learned  in  the  darkness  of  a  dungeon 

o  o 

to  rest  in  the  bright  beams  of  a  Saviour's  love. 
These,  had  they  survived,  would  have  formed  a 
body  of  firm  and  fearless  protesters  against  all  the 
abominations  of  the  system  from  which  they  were 
delivered  ;  but  it  was  the  will  of  God  that  in  this 
instance  the  beast,  making  war  upon  the  saints, 
should  also  overcome  them  in  the  sight  of  man ;  for 
they  were  delivered  into  his  hand,  and  hence  the 
harvest  was  not  allowed  openly  to  ripen  till  the 
sickle  of  death  was  prepared  to  be  put  in.  We  can 
see,  dimly  and  imperfectly,  the  outline  of  a  very 
mighty  work  ;  we  can  comprehend  how  the  garner 
of  heaven  was  replenished  when  the  pleasant  scene 
of  an  earthly  growth  was  laid  waste,  and  trampled 
down,  and  destroyed.  God's  work  is  too  equal  for 
6ur  unsteady  eyes  to  follow  close  on  its  unwavering 
line  ;  but  the  day  is  at  hand  when,  in  its  magnificent 
beauty,  it  shall  be  fully  revealed,  and  our  purified 
vision  shall  be  strengthened  to  gaze  upon  it :  and 
our  lips  shall  be  opened  to  utter  with  understanding 
the  predicted  song  of  praise :  "  Marvellous  are  thy 
works.  Lord  God  Almighty :  just  and  true  are  thy 
ways.  0  King  of  saints  !" 

If,  among  those  who  followed  the  profession  of  a 
purer  faith,  were  an}"  who  had  forgotten  the  exhor- 
tation to  "  cease  from  man,"  and  had  made  flesh 
their  arm,  by  trusting  in  the  favorable  disposition 
of  the  Count  of  Toulouse  to  uphold  their  cause, 
they  were  coiivbced  of  theii  sin,  and  made  to  realize 


106  THE  CRUSADEK&. 

the  fulness  of  their  peril,  on  the  18th  of  June,  1209. 
On  that  morning  a  pageant  wound  its  way  through 
the  public  streets  towards  the  church  of  St.  Gilles, 
comprising  an  extraordinary  number  of  ecclesiastics 
of  every  order  and  degree,  habited  in  their  goodliest 
raiment,  and  exhibiting  in  ostentatious  display  the 
pomp  and  the  pride  of  that  renovated  power  to 
which  all  else  was  rapidly  succumbing.  There  were 
the  Bernadines,  the  boasted  directors  of  the  terrible 
movement  that  was  to  annihilate  all  opposition  to  the 
papal  see ;  there  were  the  few  first  followers  of  Do 
minic,  fearful  in  the  infamy  of  their  sanguinary  brotl;  - 
erhood  ;  and  their  dark  leader  silently  pondering, 
as  he  strode  along,  the  mechanism  of  his  project  for 
a  permanent  tribunal  of  irresponsible,  irresistible 
powers  of  destruction.  There  were  the  lazy  monkn, 
the  denizens  of  many  a  fat  abbacy,  and  mendicant 
friars,  and  parish  priests,  from  the  humble  curate  to 
the  pompous  prelate,  each  in  his  due  place,  distin- 
guished by  the  habit  of  his  order.  One  character 
pervaded  the  whole  mass  :  it  was  that  of  an  ovation. 
Their  step  was  a  march  of  triumph  ;  and  every  eye 
was  lighted  up  with  an  exultation  that  no  one  strove 
to  repress.  Conspicuous  above  all  rode  the  legate 
Milon,  the  confidential  secretary  of  Innocent  III., 
who  had  nominated  him  to  the  temporary  dignity  in 
a  show  of  compliance  with  Count  Raymond's  remon- 
strances against  being  placed  in  the  hands  of  Ar* 
nold,  whom  he  regarded  as  his  personal  enemy* 
Milon  was  instructed  to  deal  subtilly  with  this  mis 


THE    CRUSADERS.  107 

erable  dupe,  allowing  the  Abbot  of  Citeaux  to  di- 
rect and  to  devise  every  tiling,  while  be  wore  only 
the  semblance  of  authority  to  deceive  the  Count. 
Gorgeously  apparelled,  and  tended  with  the  rever- 
ence due  to  the  Pope's  representative,  the  nominal 
legate  presided  over  the  cavalcade;  his  stately  mule 
led  by  knights  of  noble  birth,  while  his  own  hands 
vrere  uplifted  to  dispense  among  the  kneeling  crowd 
such  blessings  as  Rome's  delegate  can  bestow. 

So  far  the  triumphant  ecclesiastics  ;  and  next  af- 
ter them  came  the  conquered  captive.  "Bareheaded, 
and  barefooted,  his  shoulders  also  exposed,  in  read- 
iness for  the  coming  infliction,  while  a  cord  was 
knotted  round  his  neck,  in  token  of  such  criminality 
as  would  have  incurred  a  public  execution  but  for 
the  merciful  disposition  of  his  judges,  walked  the 
mighty  and  warlike  prince,  Count  Raymond  of  Tou- 
louse, who  had  submitted  to  this  disgraceful  humili- 
ation as  part  price  of  the  papal  absolution.  Half  a 
dozen  tonsured  officials  of  the  church  came  close 
behind  him,  bearing  the  instruments  of  flagellation  ; 
•while  the  penitent,  with  arms  devoutly  crossed,  and 
eves  cast  down  to  the  ground,  where  his  ignomini- 
ous halter  trailed,  wore  the  aspect  of  profound  sub- 
mission, and  self-upbraiding  sorrow  for  his  past  con- 
tumacious r«  Distance  of  the  holy  church.  It  was  a 
spectacle  on  which  few  could  look  unmoved,  though 
for  the  greater  part  the  emotions  excited  were  such 
as  men  felt  it  needful  to  confine  within  their  own 
bosoms.  Of  avowed  and  consistent  believers  none 


108  THE    CRUSADERS. 

were  present;  but  there  were  mnny  hundreds  who 
had  virtually  shaken  off  the  fetters  of  the  ptpncy, 
and  who,  looking  on  the  power  of  the  ecclesiastical 
order  as  a  bygone  thing,  had  accustomed  themselves 
to  treat  with  undisguised  scorn  and  derisioi.  the  very 
men  who  were  now  setting  their  foot  on  the  neck 
of  their  chief.  With  bitter  indignation,  and  stern 
disdain,  and  struggling  impatience  of  the  yoke 
which  yet  they  knew  not  how  to  avert  from  their 
unwilling  shoulders,  they  beheld  their  fallen  prince ; 
and  secretly- wished  that  his  fall  had  rather  been 
into  an  honorable  grave,  that  such  an  act  of  volun- 
tary prostration  under  the  heel  of  an  usurpation  that 
he  had  long  seemed  to  set  at  nought.  But  spies 
were  on  every  side ;  accusers,  who  would  make  a 
man  an  offender  not  only  for  a  word  but  for  a  lock  ; 
and  heads  depressed,  and  brows  bent,  it  might  ap- 
pear in  submission  or  in  devotion,  were  all  that  met 
the  scrutinizing  gaze  of  the  monks  and  their  emis- 
saries. 

The  church,  of  course,  was  filled  with  as  many 
of  Raymond's  knightly  followers  as  could  be  sum- 
moned to  witness  his  shameful  degradation.  This 
would  answer  the  double  purpose  of  alienating 
them  from  a  despicable  chief,  and  of  impressing 
them  with  awful  convictions  of  the  church's  power. 
S'owly,  and  amid  the  chant  of  penitential  psalms, 
the  culprit  took  his  a  way,  in  a  long  circuit  through 
the  aisles  of  the  church,  offering  homage  at  every 
shrine,  and  exhibiting  himself  to  each  scattered  por 


THE    CRUSADERS.  109 

tinn  of  the  breathless  congregation.  The  legate 
was  duly  enthroned :  his  sacerdotal  brethren  took 
their  stations,  so  as  best  to  display  their  numbers 
and  the  gaudiness  of  their  changeable  attire:  and 
gome  preliminary  mummeries  having  been  per- 
"ormed,  Raymond,  Count  of  Toulouse,  the  lordly 
prince,  the  veteran  commander,  the  man  who  had 
been  set  for  the  defence  of  a  persecuted  flock  now 
cruelly  abandoned,  was  led  as  near  as  possible  to 
the  altar,  and  scourged  by  the  willing  hands  of  the 
monks,  till  the  vaulted  roof  re-echoed  their  strokes, 
and  the  blood  that  he  dared  not  to  shed  in  a  lawful 
resistance  against  sin,  flowed  to  appease  the  roused 
vengeance  of  Satan's  vicegerent. 

This  being  done,  and  a  violent  harangue  from  the 
pulpit  having  set  forth  in  glowing  colors  the  enor- 
mity of  his  crimes,  and  the  marvellous  tenderness 
of  Rome  in  sparing  his  forfeit  life;  with  a  full  enu- 
meration of  the  concessions  that  he  had  made,  in- 
cluding the  surrender  of  his  seven  principal  castles 
to  the  Pope,  and  his  unreserved  submission  to  what- 
soever sentence  might  be  pronounced  upon  him;  an 
absolution,  not  less  deg;ading  than  the  flagellation, 
was  declared  by  the  legate ;  and  in  final  token  of 
his  perfect  reconciliation  to  the  papal  see,  Count 
Raymond  was  invested  with  the  white  cross,  and 
commanded  to  unite  his  forces  with  those  then 
about  to  attack  his  nephew  ;  he  also,  as  best  ac- 
quainted with  the  territories  and  the  resources  of 
the  assailed  noble,  becoming  their  principal  guide. 
10 


110  THE    CRUSADEHS. 

Disgusting  and  disgraceful  as  was  the  conduct  of 
Count  Raymond,  there  is  not  at  this  hour  a  prince 
or  a  warrior  in  Europe  who  would  not  act  the  same 
part,  at  the  beck  of  Rome,  if  but  the  Lord  permit- 
ted her  to  wield  again  the  like  authority,  and  re- 
moved the  restraining  grace  that  alone  keeps  them 
as  yet  from  giving  their  power  unto  the  Beast.  Al- 
ready, in  England,  we  have  our  political  Count  Ray- 
mond, pursuing  the  same  career  of  degrading  con- 
cession to  the  demands  of  an  alien  usurpation,  as 
rapidly  as  the  awakened  Protestantism  of  the  nation 
will  permit  him  to  go  on :  and  to  "  be  beaten  with 
many  stripes"  will  assuredly,  sooner  or  later,  be  his 
well-earned  meed.  Stripes  that  will  but  seal  his  ul- 
timate condemnation  with  the  brand  of  unrepentant 
treachery. 

The  host  whom  the  wretched  Count  was  dis- 
patched to  join,  consisted  of  three  principal  divisions, 
of  which  the  first  had  been  chiefly  collected  at  Ly- 
ons, by  Arnold  the  legate,  and  were  subjects  of  the 
Emperor  Otho  IV.  The  second  division,  subjects 
of  England,  had  been  assembled  by  the  archbishop 
of  Bordeaux ;  and  the  third,  who  owed  allegiance 
to  France,  had  the  bishop  of  Puy  for  their  leader. 
Strange  indeed  does  it  sound,  that  men  asserting 
themselves  to  be  ministers  and  preachers  of  the 
everlasting  Gospel,  pastors  of  the  Church  of  God, 
should  be  named  as  generals  leading  an  army  to 
battle :  but  so  it  was  afore  declared  in  the  prophetic 
word:  "  Tlid  beast  1'iat  ascenduth  out  <?f  the  bot- 


THE    CRUSADERS.  Ill 

tomless  pit,"  the  vivid  type  of  the  Roman  papal 
power,  was  to  "make  war  with  the  saints,  and  to 
overcome  them." 

The  amount  of  the  combined  forces  is  very  vari- 
ously stated :  but  fifty  thousand  is  the  lowest  esti- 
mate of  the  regular  troops ;  and  to  these  we  must 
add  a  large  multitude  of  disorderly  followers,  who 
joined  them  in  order  to  share  the  plunder,  the  spoil, 
and  the  blessing  promised  by  the  holy  see  to  all  par- 
takers in  the  crusade.  Raymond  met  them  at  Va- 
lence, and  became  their  guide,  as  had  been  ap- 
pointed, to  the  town  of  Montpellier,  where  they 
made  a  pause,  the  legate  enthroning  himself  as  usual, 
in  supreme  authority,  civil,  military,  and  ecclesiasti- 
cal. Young  Raymond  Roger,  still  solicitous  to  pre- 
serve his  subjects  from  this  terrible  flood  of  enemies, 
now  rolling  onward  to  their  doors,  and  bold  in  con- 
scious integrity,  here  made  a  last  effort  to  obtain 
•what  he  soon  found  to  be  unattainable  in  that  quar- 
ter, righteous  judgment.  Personally  he  appeared 
before  Arnold,  and  pleaded  once  more  his  unshaken 
allegiance  to  the  church,  towards  which  he  declared 
he  had  never  done  or  intended  any  wrong.  He  de- 
nied having  received  or  supported  any  heretics  ;  and 
desired  that  if  any  officers  or  subjects  of  his  had  so 
done,  they,  not  he,  might  be  held  responsible  ;  add- 
ing that  these  officers  had  governed  his  territories 
up  to  the  present  time.  He  again  professed  himself 
the  servant  of  the  church ;  and  in  that  character 
demanded  favor.  Happily  for  him,  as  we  trust,  hia 


112  THE    CRUSADERS. 

suit  was  rejected ;  the  legate  told  him  to  defend 
himself  as  best  lie  might,  for  that  no  mercy  would 
be  shown  him.  Once  more  the  j'oung  noble  called 
around  him  his  attached  followers,  and  communi- 
cated the  result  of  his  appeal.  It  was  probably 
made  at  their  instance ;  for  the  spectacle  of  those 
fierce  and  formidable  troops,  led  on  by  the  prelate  of 
a  church  from  which  not  many  had  openly  sepa- 
rated ;  and  invested  with  a  fictitious  sanctity  more 
alarming  to  weak  consciences  than  was  their  martial 
prowess  to  an  unequal  force,  might  well  cause  the 
bravest  heart  to  shrink,  when  his  own  home,  with 
all  its  precious  inmates,  was  the  avowed  object  of 
their  sanguinary  attack.  The  rejection,  however, 
of  Raymond  Roger's  appeal,  convinced  them  that 
they  had  nothing  to  hope  from  concession  ;  that  the 
purpose  of  the  papacy  was  to  destroy,  not  to  recon- 
cile, those  who  had  once  dared  to  assume  even  the 
semblance  of  independence  ;  and  that  their  only  al- 
ternative now  rested  in  a  vigorous  defence  of  such 
posts  as  might  be  considered  tenable,  while  others, 
less  favorably  circumstanced,  they  must  be  content 
to  abandon  to  the  advancing  banditti.  Where  therf; 
was  no  excuse  for  charging  a  community  with  the 
existence  of  heretical  taint,  a  weighty  ransom  in 
gold  was  likely  to  be  accepted ;  and  so  it  was  at 
Caussadi,  St.  Antonin,  and  one  or  two  other  places  ; 
two  castles  were  left  tenantless,  and  worthless  to 
either  party  :  and  c  ne  was  burnt ;  but  all  this  in- 
volved n<7  recorded  mcrifice  of  life. 


THE    CRCSADEKS.  113 

was  the  first  fortress  that  offered  a  determined  re* 
sistance,  and  here  was  the  work  of  martyrdom  com- 
menced. 

It  must  be  always  borne  in  mind  that  our  only  in- 
formants on  the  subject  of  these  murderous  expedi- 
tions are  the  aggressors  themselves.  They,  with 

OO  » 

their  attention  eagerly  fixed  on  the  grand  object  in 
view,  have  passed  lightly  over  what  to  them  ap- 
peared but  minor  events,  to  dwell  with  fuller  em- 
phasis on  the  achievements  that  gave  whole  prov- 
inces into  their  hands.  Of  Chasseneuil  they  have 
said  very  little,  for  it  was  only  a  step  on  the  way  to 
Beziers  and  Carcassonne;  but  we  are  told  that  the 
garrison  made  a  vigorous  defence,  until  obliged  to 
capitulate ;  and  we  know  in  what  array,  and  under 
what  circumstances  the  assailants  advanced.  Con- 
sidering that  the  garrison  was  principally  composed 
of  men  who  nominally  held  the  Romish  faith,  and 
whose  laxity  of  devotion  in  the  service  of  the 
Church  was  the  effect  of  enlarged  intellect,  not  of 
enlightened  conscience  ;  who  were  born,  and  who 
,'ully  intended  to  die  in  her  communion,  and  who,  in 
the  midst  of  their  preparations  for  defending  their 
lives  and  their  property  from  an  invading  army,  still 
professed  the  most  unshaken  allegiance  to  the  papal 
see ;  considering  all  this,  we  must  marvel  that  the 
sights  and  sounds  most  palpable  among  tbe  advanc- 
ing host,  did  not  at  once  unman  them  all. 

For  there,  sanctioning,  and  as  he  would  fain  have 
it  held,  sanctifying  the  onset,  rode  consp.c-uously  the 
10* 


114  THE    CRUSADERS. 

representative  of  the  sovereign  pontiff,  surrounded 
by  all  the  paraphernalia  of  his  sacerdotal  assump- 
tions. There,  in  impious  mimickry  of  the  ark  of  the 
LORD,  which  did  indeed  by  its  presence  both  sanc- 
tion and  sanctify  the  marches  of  the  Israelites  of 
old,  was  borne  on  high  the  deified  wafer,  before 
which  every  knee  had  been  taught  to  bow,  not  as 
the  representative,  but  as  the  actual  living,  divine 
reality  of  Christ's  glorified  body  :  so  that  they  who 
planted  it  in  their  van,  pretended,  and  by  the  great 
bulk  of  their  opponents  were  believed,  to  be  under 
the  personal  leadership  of  the  Mighty  God.  The 
banners  that  floated  over  their  lines  bore  the  im- 
press of  the  cross,  to  fight  against  which  was,  in  the 
superstitious  apprehension  of  unenlightened  minds, 
to  fight  against  the  Redeemer ;  and  in  like  manner, 
the  sounds  that  rose  high  above  the  clang  of  armor, 
and  the  heavy  tread  of  the  compact  legions,  were 
not  those  of  martial  clarion, — not  the  mimic  thun- 
der of  the  drum,  or  the  trumpet-call  that  rouses 
alike  the  animal  courage  of  the  horse  and  his  rider  ; 
no,  these  might  accord  with  scenes  of  mere  earthly 
strife  ;  but  this  was  the  battle  of  hell,  waged  in  the 
name  and  in  the  seeming  panoply  of  heaven  ;  and, 
therefore,  we  are  told  by  the  Romish  chroniclers  of 
Rome's  bloody  deeds,  that  the  music  of  that  march 
was  furnished  by  the  deep,  loud  voices  of  the  mul- 
titude of  priests,  who,  arrayed  in  their  robes,  and 
surrounding  the  wafer-god  of  heir  infatuated  idola* 


THE   CKITSADERS.  115 

try,  pealed  forth  in  mighty  chorus  the  Latin  hymn, 
"  VENT  CKEATOR  SPIRITUS." 

Yes,  they  chanted  forth,  in  loud  and  solemn  fer- 
vency, that  really  beautiful  invocation  to  the  Holy 
(.ihost,  often  heard  in  the  midst  of  our  worshipping 
congregations,  who  can  join  in  it,  without  perhaps, 
one  aspiration  of  thankfulness  to  the  Lord,  that  they 
are  by  grace  delivered  from  the  grasp  of  that  tre- 
mendous lie  which  taught  its  votaries  that  He,  the 
Spirit  of  truth, 

Whose  blessed  unction  from  above, 
Is  comfort,  fire,  and  light  of  love, 

was  to  be  invoked  to  direct  and  preside  over  the 
bloodiest  deeds  of  cruelty,  violence,  and  torturing 
death,  that  men  in  the  utmost  frenzy  of  unbridled 
ferocity  could  perpetrate  against  their  defenceless 
fellow-creatures.  Oh,  if  we  were  to  select  one  soli- 
tary instance,  whereby  to  prove  the  diabolical  char- 
acter of  the  Romish  delusion,  and  to  establish  be- 
yond a  cavil  its  title  to  the  distinguishing  name  of 
the  Antichrist,  we  would  point  to  the  crusaders, 
rushing  on  their  blood-stained  way,  with  the  tran- 
substantiated wafer  in  their  van,  and  the  priestly  in- 
vocation A3  the  Holy  Ghost,  pealing  in  their  ears 
Mystery  uf  iniquity !  next  after  the  depth  of  the 
riches  of  the  wisdom  and  knowledge  of  God,  surely 
them,  tremendous  pit  of  Satanic  darkness,  art  the 
•nost  unsearchable  of  all  things  ! 

It  is  no  marvel,  that  t  lus  assailed,  the  garrison  of 


116  TilE    CHUSADERS. 

Chassenueil  made  an  unavailing  stand.  After  -cnie 
hard  fighting,  they  capitulated;  and  obtained  per- 
mission to  march  out,  with  what  they  could  3arry 
about  them  ;  but  no  terms  were  listened  to  as  res- 
pected the  unarmed  inhabitants.  It  was  known 
that  the  Gospel  leaven  had  found  entrance  there ; 
that  some  few  of  the  scattered  saints  who  were  the 
real  objects  of  this  iniquitous  war,  and  whom  it  was 
Satan's  purpose  to  root  out,  were  mingled  with  the 
population.  Accordingly  they  were  abandoned  to 
the  merciless  host,  who  permitted  the  soldiers  to 
depart,  and  then  burst  in  upon  the  helpless  citizens 
It  was  their  first  prize ;  the  first  fruits  of  their  san- 
guinary toils  ;  and  whatsoever  of  unbounded  crime 
and  cruelty  the  Evil  Spirit  could  suggest,  and  the 
Lord  God  of  heaven  saw  meet  to  permit,  that  they 
perpetrated.  To  select  the  followers  of  a  true  faith 
from  among  the  inhabitants,  was  not  worth  their 
while  :  when  nothing  more  remained  for  their  vic- 
tims to  suffer  but  death,  these  wretched  criminals 
kindled  fires  wheresoever  they  could,  and,  amid  the 
applauding  acclamations  of  the  crusaders,  and  the 
triumphant  Te  Deums  of  the  priesthood,  they  hurled 
them  all  into  the  flames. 

It  is  one  of  the  dreadful  concomitants  of  war, 
that  a  conquering  army  will  use  to  the  uttermost  its 
fearful  power  over  a  vanquished  enemy. 

The  capture  of  a  fortified  place  is  followed  by 
scenes  that  humanity  shudders  to  contemplate  ;  and 
as,  alas]  cruelty  is  one  of  the  «vil  dispositions  of 


THE    CRUSADERS.  117 

man's  natural  heart,  very  savage  deeds  of  wanton 
cruelty,  revenging  upon  the  innocent,  real  or  imag- 
inary offences  committed  by  others,  will  stain,  more 
or  less,  the  hands  of  men  who  are  so  permitted  to 
follow  their  own  will.  But  we  must  carefully  dis- 
criminate the  slaughter  of  the  Albigensic  victims, 
throughout  this  impious  campaign,  from  all  that  be- 
longs to  war  in  general.  No  man,  ostensibly,  slew 
an  Albigensic  captive  to  avenge  his  own  quarrel,  or 
to  glut  his  own  cruelty.  It  was  done  as  an  accepta- 
ble service  to  God  :  it  was  regarded  as  an  act  of  such 
transcendent  merit,  that  ev  ;n  to  devote  forty  days  to 
the  mere  attempt  was  sufficient  compensation  for  the 
sins  of  a  long  life,  and  ample  purchase-money  for 
heaven.  The  shouts  that  arose  from  the  crusaders 
as  the  naked  bodies  of  those  inoffensive  sufferers 
writhed,  and  blackened,  and  crackled  in  the  flame, 
were  ascriptions  of  praise  to  the  God  of  all  mercy 
that  He  had  given  into  their  hands  those  whom  they 
held  it  meritorious  so  to  torture  and  to  kill ;  and  if 
there  was  one  among  them  of  a  disposition  naturally 
tender  and  humane,  who  would  rather  have  rescued 
a  fellow-creature  from  suffering  than  inflicted  a  need- 
less pang,  that  person  would  score  down  to  himself 
a  larger  amount  of  merit,  seeing  that  he  had  sacri- 
liced  inclination  to  duty,  and  become  a  tormentor 
and  a  murderer  for  the  love  of  God.  The  deeper 
we  explore  these  times  and  scenes,  and  the  charac- 
ters th-it  figured  in  them,  the  more  perfectly  shall 
We  be  enabled  to  id  ntify  all  with  the  prophetic 


118  THE    CRIS.ADERS. 

word   that  foretells  with  wonderful  minuteness  the 
eventful  history  of  the  Church  of  God. 

Henceforth  the  tale  must  be  one  of  mourning 
and  lamentation,  and  woe,  so  far  as  the  visible  and 
temporal  things  are  concerned ;  but,  looking  to  the 
things  that  are  unseen  and  eternal,  we  may  rind  mat- 
ter for  a  song  of  rejoicing  praise,  where  fi'jsh  can 
only  shudder,  and  humanity  weep.  For  this  great 
onset  upon  the  Church  of  Christ,  Satan  had  all  along 
chosen  his  instruments  with  the  craft  and  subtilty 
that  are  peculiarly  his ;  and  now  he  could  look  on  a 
widely-extended  field  of  victims,  of  whom  by  far  the 
most  pitiable  were  the  shedders  of  innocent  blood. 
We  count  them  happy  who  endured,  even  unto  death, 
the  afflictions  and  persecutions  whereof  the  Lord  has 
forewarned  His  followers ;  but  how  terrible  the  dis- 
covery to  be  made  sooner  or  later  by  the  persecu- 
tors, that  the  master  whose  bidding  they  hastened 
to  do  Avas  indeed  the  prince  of  darkness ;  and  the 
wages  of  their  work,  everlasting  death  !  Yet  this 
compassion  has  its  limits  too  ;  for  the  God  of  grace 
and  of  mercy  left  not  himself  without  such  witness, 
even  in  the  few  and  mutilated  fragments  of  scrip- 
tural truth  that  were  still  retained  in  the  system  and 
the  services  of  Rome,  as  sufficed  to  condemn  the  san- 
guinary, the  licentious,  the  graspingly  avaricious 
cravings  that  were  openly  fostered  and  pandered  to 
in  these  infamous  wars.  A  man  may  be  belie\ed  to 
act  conscientiously  according  to  his  views  of  duty, 
however  mistaken,  whc  famishes,  lacerates,  and  oth- 


THE    CRUSADERS.  119 

erwise  mortities  his  body  ;  because  there  are  seveial 
passages  in  the  New  Testament  very  capable  of  be- 
ing so  wrested  ;  and  he  may,  in  the  like  sincerity  of 
error  hold  it  meritorious  to  repeat  long  prayers,  to 
perform  many  superstitious  acts,  and  to  render  undue 
honor  to  those  whom  he  believes  to  be  divinely  gifted 
for  his  guidance  in  spiritual  matters :  but  the  con- 
science must  indeed  be  seared  with  a  hot  iron,  and 
given  over  to  believe  a  soul-destroying  lie,  through 
real,  wilful  disbelief  of  the  most  obvious  truths,  be- 
fore the  same  individual  can  profess  to  believe  in  tho 
Lamb  of  God,  who  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world  ; 
— can  avow  himself  a  follower  of  One  who,  as  ho 
knows,  came  not  to  destroy  men's  lives,  but  to  savn. 
— and  at  the  same  time  number  among  the  most  ac- 
ceptable services  to  be  rendered  to  that  God  and 
Saviour,  the  cold-blooded  slaughter  of  his  fellow- 
creatures  ;  the  plunder  of  their  possessions,  and  th« 
wanton,  savage  destruction  of  all  that  he  cannot  ren- 
der subservient  to  his  own  selfish  and  sinful  purpo- 
ses. Such  was  ever  the  principle  of  papal  rule; 
such  was  solemnly  declared  and  established  as  its 
deliberate  doctrine,  at  the  very  period  of  which  we 
write.  The  fourth  Lateran  Council,  with  its  unre- 
pealed  decrees  and  murderous  denunciations,  placed 
the  fact  beyond  dispute,  as  we  shall  by  and  by  see. 
Chassenueil  having  fallen,  and  leaving  nothing  but 
a  blackened  heap  of  ruins,  sprinkled  far  and  wide 
with  th«  ashes  of  the  bodies  that  had  been  burned 
in  heaps  within  it,  the  next  point  of  attack  was  Bo 


120  THE    CRUSADERS. 

Hers.  Here  Raymond  Rcger  was  known  to  hava 
strongly  fortified  himself,  with  a  garrison  of  chosen 
knights,  and  devoted  citizens,  of  whom  a  large  pro- 
portion were  undoubtedly  alienated  from  the  idola- 
tries of  Rome,  before  the  present  revolting  act  of 
aggression  roused  their  spirit  to  resist  her  cruelty. 
The  proceedings  in  this  place  were  so  characteristic 
of  all  parties,  that  they  deserve  as  detailed  an  ac- 
count as  existing  records  will  admit  of. 

The  bishop  of  the  diocese,  Reginald  of  Montpey- 
roux,  employed  himself  in  a  diligent  search  after  all 
upon  whom  he  could  fasten  any  charge  of  heresy, 
and  having  made  out  a  list  of  every  suspected  family 
and  person,  he  used  his  official  privilege  to  seek  an 
interview  with  the  legate,  who  was  now  advancing 
with  the  army ;  placed  the  document  in  his  hands, 
and  required  in  the  name  of  their  holy  mother 
church  that  the  individuals  so  marked  out  should  be 
committed  to  the  flames.  Having  executed  this 
sacred  mission,  he  returned  to  his  flock,  as  from  a 
mere  compulsory  visit  of  duty  to  the  Pope's  repre- 
sentative, and  magnified  to  the  uttermost  the  dan- 
gers that  impended  over  them,  describing  in  the 
most  alarming  terms  the  numerical  and  physical 
strength  of  the  assailing  bands.  He  wrought  art- 
fully upon  the  secret  apprehensions  that  agitated 
many  bosoms  when  they  found  that  their  young 
chief,  after  visiting  Beziers,  inspecting  its  fortifica- 
tions and  stores,  and  encouraging  the  garrison,  in- 
Btead  of  staying  to  superintend  the  defence  in  per 


THE   CRUSADERS.  121 

fcon,  withdrew  to  the  stronger  position  oJ  Carcas- 
sonne v.  hicli,  in  the  event  of  their  fall  would  be  the 
next  to  endure  an  assault.  The  bishop  well  knew 
tlie  disheartening  effect  of  the  young  count's  de- 
pa!  ture,  and  he  made  the  most  of  it.  Assembling 
tin;  citizens  in  the  church  of  St.  Nicaise,  he  ad- 
dressed them  from  the  altar ;  and  concluded  an  art- 
ful harangue  by  offering  them,  in  the  legate's  name, 
favorable  terms,  provided  they  would  only  deliver 
up  those  who  were  known  among  them  as  schis- 
matics from  the  Romish  communion.  By  so  doing, 
he  assured  them,  they  might,  but  in  no  other  way 
could  they,  preserve  themselves,  their  wives  and 
children,  from  the  horrors  of  such  pillage  and  mas- 
sacre as  would  follow  t\  successful  assault,  and  their 
souls  from  the  tremendous  wrath  of  heaven  and  the 
church.  They  paused,  for  the  peril  was  imminent, 
and  very  terrible  indeed  was  the  glittering  array 
that  overspread  every  part  of  the  surrounding  coun- 
try ;  as,  like  a  swarm  of  locusts,  the  crusaders  ad- 
vanced on  their  prey.  They  paused,  but  it  was 
only  for  a  moment :  the  reflection  of  a  purer  light, 
shining  on  them  from  the  scattered  few  who  them- 
selves reflected  the  image  of  Christ,  had  dispelled 
much  of  the  darkness  that  broods  where  Popery 
reigns.  With  a  burst  of  noble  enthusiasm,  they 
drowned  the  voice  of  the  tempter,  crying  out,  "  No: 
tell  the  legate  that  our  city  is  good  and  strong ;  that 
in  this  our  great  necessity,  the  Lord  our  God  will 
be  our  succor ;  and  that,  rather  than  commit  the 
11 


122  THE    CRTTRADERS. 

treacherous  act  suggested  to  us,  we  will  eat  oui 
own  children." 

The  populati  >n  of  Beziers,  including  garrison, 
citizens,  an  1  all  classes,  is  stated  by  some  to  have 
amounted  to  sixty  thousand  persons :  others  rate  it 
much  lower.  Stout  hearts,  strong  hands,  and  a 
righteous  cause  combined  to  encourage  them  against 
the  great  and  terrible  armament  that  drew  nearer 
and  nearer  to  their  walls,  spreading  such  a  multi- 
tude of  tents  and  gay  pavilions,  and  displaying  so 
formidable  a  host  of  warriors,  as  proved  that  the 
description  of  their  treacherous  bishop,  which  they 
would  fain  have  regarded  as  an  extravagant  fable, 
was  not  even  an  exaggeration  of  the  reality.  As 
yet,  the  enemy  was  busily  employed  in  forming  and 
strengthening  a  camp,  from  which  it  was  probable 
the  host  must  carry  on  the  operations  of  a  protract 
ed  siege  ;  for  Beziers  was  a  powerful-looking  place, 
with  its  solid  walls,  and  massive  square  towers, 
crowning  an  abrupt  height  with  a  broad  deep  river 
at  its  base.  The  citizens  beholding  these  prepara- 
tions, and  seeing  the  abundant  means  provided  for 
effectually  prosecuting  the  work  when  all  should  b« 
fitly  arranged,  considered  it  the  most  favorable  mo- 
ment for  a  sally  :  they  formed  in  a  body,  and  rushed 
down,  with  impetuous  courage,  upon  the  foe.  These, 
however,  had  the  advantage,  in  point  of  numbers, 
ol  ferocity,  and  of  being  long  inured  to  deeds  of 
blood  ;  and  th  people  of  God  had  been  given,  for 


THE   CfttTSADRRS.  123 

A  time,  into  the  hand  of  the  Avicked  ana  cruel  one 
The  infantry  sustained  the  shock  unmoved  ;  then 
becoming  the  assailants,  the}'  speedily  turned  the 
disheartened  citizens,  drove  them  hack,  and  in  one 
dense  mass  of  pursuers  and  pursued,  they  all  entered 
the  gates  together.  Beyers  was  in  the  hands  of  th0 
Crusaders. 

The  great  strength  of  this  fortified  town,  had 
drawn  wilhin  its  Avails  multitudes  of  the  villagers, 
and  scattered  inhabitants  of  a  Avide  surrounding 
district.  AH  the  rural  population  Avere  assembled 
there;  and  among  them,  undoubtedly,  a  large  pro- 
portion of  those  against  whom  the  Avrath  of  the 
dragon  and  of  the  beast  was  especially  kindled-^- 
the  true  worshippers  of  God,  Avho  served  Him  iu 
the  Gospel  of  his  Son.  There  Avere,  however,  Arery 
many,  Avhose  allegiance  to  Rome  could  not  be  ques- 
tioned, and  who  were  fully  bent  to  die  as  they  had 
lived,  in  her  communion.  This  Avas  known  to  the 
knights,  Avho  had  been  accustomed  in  the  miscalled 
"  holy  wars"  to  discriminate  carefully  as  to  their  A'ic- 
tims.  The  butchery  of  Saracens,  and,  perhaps  eA-en 
more,  that  of  God's  ancient,  afflicted  people  Israel, 
was  with  them  a  matter  of  meritorious  duty  ;  but  to 
imbrue  their  hands  in  the  blood  of  such  as  bowed 
duAvn  to  the  same  crucifix,  and  Avorshipped  the  same 
wafer,  and  invocated  the  same  dead  saints  with 
themselves,  Avould  have  appeared  a  departure  from 
their  prescribed  path.  Accordingly,  Avhen  it  was 
ascertained  that  Beziers  was  in  their  hands,  Jim) 


lt>4  THE   CnttSADERS. 

that,  of  course,  the  heretics  must  fall,  s:me  of  those 
commanders  came  to  the  legate,  Arn:;ld  Amalric, 
with  the  natural  question  of — How  they  were  to 
distinguish  the  Catholics  from  the  heretics  ?  The 
reply  of  the  Abbot  has  been  recorded  by  his  own 
friends  and  followers,  or  it  would  scarcely  be  credi- 
ble. He  answered,  "  Kill  them  all !  the  Lord  will 
know  well  those  that  are  his  !" 

While  this  was  going  on,  the  poor  devoted  flock 
crowded  into  the  churches,  as  though  any  sanctuary 
existed  for  them,  which  the  wolves  of  Rome  might 
respect.  There  were  in  Beziers  a  great  majority  of 
women  and  children,  sent  to  those  strong  walls  for 
protection  by  husbands  and  fathers,  who  themselves 
remained  to  garrison  posts  deemed  less  impregnable. 
These,  with  the  whole  body  of  citizens  and  refu- 
gees, took  shelter  in  the  places  of  worship,  unless 
when  their  feeble  steps  were  overtaken  by  the  mur- 
derer's rapid  stride,  and  their  course  cut  short  in 
blood.  The  large  cathedral  church  of  St.  Nicaise 
was  completely  thronged :  and  the  canons,  minis- 
ters as  they  were  of  the  Romish  religion,  investing 
themselves  with  the  sacerdotal  habit,  which  surely, 
they  thought,  must  be  a  sufficient  protection  against 
the  soldiers  of  their  own  faith,  ranged  themselves 
round  the  altar.  No  voice  could  have  been  heard, 
in  supplication,  amid  the  din,  and  the  crash,  and  the 
shrieks  of  that  fearful  scoe  of  blood  ;  but  the  poor 
canons  sounded  the  consecrated  bells,  in  deep,  and 
melancholy,  and  appealing  tolJ,  hoping  so  to  tour.h 


•THE    CRUSADERS.  125 

the  hearts  of  the  fierce  assailants.  In  vain  !  Rome 
leaves  her  conscience-seared  votaries  with  he.-irts  no 
less  effectually  seared  into  utter  insensibility  to  the 
pleadings  of  pity  :  the  tide  of  cowardly  massacre 
rolled  on  ;  cut  down,  and  crushed  beneath  the  armed 
heel,  and  mangled  with  the  spear,  one  after  another 
the  victims  fell,  as  the  blood-stained  fanatics  ap- 
proached the  altar  ;  and  there  the  canons  also  fell, 
hurled  upon  the  general  heap,  while  the  progress  of 
the  work  was  marked  by  the  ceasing  of  successive 
bells,  as  the  hands  that  tolled  them  fell  powerless  in 
death  ;  and  the  silence  that  followed  the  last  sad 
note  proclaimed  the  consummation  of  that  fearful 
massacre.  The  dead  bodies  that  lay,  bathed  in 
blood,  on  the  pavement  of  one  church,  the  Magda- 
len, amounted  to  seven  thousand.  The  babe  at  its 
mother's  breast,  the  aged  man  beneath  his  daughter's 
arms,  vainly  uplifted  to  defend  his  silver  locks,  while 
her  own  bright  ringlets  were  dripping  blood.  Yes  ; 
they  killed  them  all.  ! 

There  is  a  world  into  which  the  eye  of  living  man 
hath  not  pried,  and  of  which  the  fearful  secrets  are 
but  dimly  revealed  in  the  parables  of  Him  who  made 
all  worlds.  There  is  a  place  where  the  ungodly  rich 
man,  "  being  in  torments,  lifted  up  his  eyes,  and 
saw  Abraham  afar  off,  and  Lazarus  in  his  bosom." 
How  tremendously  nwful  is  the  solemn  thought,  the 
assured  fact,  that  of  all  who  slew,  and  of  all  who 
were  slain,  at  the  bidding  uf  Arnold  Amalric  and 
his  wretched  confederates,  not  one  has  perished  • 
11* 


126  -A.rE    CKUSADERS. 

each  and  all  are  now  in  existence,  awaiting  the  d«<5 
when  they  must  stand  before  the  judgment-seat  of 
Christ  !  Centuries  have  passed,  and  their  names 
and  their  deeds  are  by-gone  things ;  but  not  one 
among  them,  persecutor  or  persecuted,  destroyer  or 
destroyed,  lias  ever  known  a  moment's  oblivion  of 
that  scene.  The  people  of  the  Lord,  faithful  unto 
death,  washed  from  every  stain  in  the  blood  of  the 
Lamb,  entered  into  rest,  commencing  the  eternal 
song  of  praise ;  and  looking  forward  to  the  great 
day  of  final  vengeance,  when  the  enemies  of  Christ 
shall  forever  be  put  under  his  feet.  The  spirits  in 
that  dark  and  dreary  prison,  whence  there  is  no 
egress,  save  to  final  judgment  and  to  public  doom, 
feel  in  the  recollection  of  those  dreadful  deeds  the 
gnawings  of  a  worm  that  dieth  not,  the  kindlings 
of  a  fire  that  cannot  be  quenched  ;  and  Arnold 
Amalric  can  reiterate  with  terrible  meaning  the 
words  of  his  blasphemous  mock  ;  "  The  Lord  will 
know  well  those  who  are  his!" 

The  massacre  occupied  a  very  short  period: 
where  no  resistance  could  be  offered,  and  the  vic- 
tims were  thronged  within  a  limited  space,  the  work 
of  cutting  them  down  was  easy  and  expeditious. 
This  being  done,  plunder  was  the  next  concern. 
Such  of  the  decrepit,  the  sick,  and  otherwise  help- 
less as  had  been  unable  to  leave  their  dwellings,  were 
speedily  butchered  there,  and  all  that  could  lonipt 
the  hand  of  rapacity,  from  the  costly  elegancies 
of  the  palace,  to  the  simple  but  treasured  heir- 


T11E   CRUSADERS.  121 

loom  of  the  modest  cottage,  was  grasped  and  appro- 
priated, as  if  to  perfect  the  antitype  of  that  traitor 
who  also  "  was  a  thief,  and  bare  the  bag,  and  stole 
what  was  put  therein."  So  easy  a  conquest,  so 
sweeping  a  massacre,  and  so  rich  a  booty,  could  not 
bat  tend  greatly  to  encourage  the  invaders.  Masses 
were  celebrated,  and  thinksgivings  pealed  forth  by 
thousands  of  voices,  to  the  God  of  holiness,  and 
love,  and  peace ;  while  the  blood  of  His  saints,  that 
day  shed  like  water  on  every  side,  coagulated  upon 
the  spot  where  those  vain  worshippers  stood  ;  and 
the  unburied  corpses,  with  glassy  stare  fixed  on  the 
sky,  presented  an  appeal  not  overlooked  by  Him, 
who  has  said,  "  Vengeance  is  mine,  I  will  repay." 

The  closing  act  of  this  savage  tragedy  was  to  set 
fire  to  the  stately  city  in  every  quarter,  consuming 
with  it  the  immense  mass  of  its  slaughtered  inhab- 
itants. So  perfect  was  the  work  of  destruction, 
that  not  a  single  dwelling  remained,  nor  aught  that 
fire  could  destroy,  of  that  proud  Beziers,  in  which, 
next  to  Carcassonne,  Raymond  Roger  and  his  sub- 
jects placed  their  trust,  as  being  able  to  hold  at 
bay,  for  an  indefinite  length  of  time,  the  crusading 
army.  These,  it  must  be  remembered,  had  only  en- 
gaged to  serve  for  forty  days  ;  and  every  hour  was 
rendered  precious  to  the  assailed,  by  the  hope,  that 
a  protiv.cted  defence  might  reach  to  the  termination 
of  this  limited  engagement.  The  dark  volumes  of 

O      O 

smoke,  and  red  glare  of  flame  that  rose  from  the 
V>fty  turrets  of  Beziers,  told  a  tale  of  terror  and  dis- 


128  THE  CRTTSA:  EKS. 

may  to  the  surrounding  country.  Every  place  wan 
presently  deserted,  from  the  strong  but  isolated  cas- 
tle to  the  lowly  shepherd's  hut,  and  the  vine-dress- 
er's lodge.  No  hope  of  security  remained  for  these 
scattered  ones,  except  within  the  walls  of  Carcas- 
sonne, where  Raymond  Roger  still  encouraged  hia 
people  to  hold  out ;  cheering  by  his  presence  and 
undaunted  bearing  their  hearts,  of  which,  perhaps, 
none  were  sadder  than  his  own.  But  the  forest 
depths,  and  mountain  caves,  and  passes  known  only 
to  native  feet,  afforded  a  refuge  to  numbers  who 
either  were  unable  to  reach  the  fortress,  or  doubted 
the  issue  of  an  assault  upon  it ;  and  who  preferred 
the  perils  and  privations  of  such  concealment,  to 
the  issue  of  a  siege.  Perchance  too,  there  were 
among  these  some  who  scrupled  to  use  the  carnal 
weapon  in  what  they  felt  to  be  the  battle  of  the 
faith.  It  was  no  new  page  in  the  history  of  God's 
church  that  they  of  whom  the  world  was  not  wor- 
thy, should  be  destitute,  afflicted,  tormented,  wan- 
dering about,  in  dens  and  eaves  of  the  earth. 

After  the  one  day's  deadly  work  at  Beziers,  the 
exulting  host  set  forward  again,  spreading  over  the 
country,  according  to  the  information  of  the  traitors, 
chiefly  ecclesiastics,  who  acted  as  their  guides  to  the 
castles  of  the  nobles.  These  they  found,  indeed, 
strongly  fortified  by  nature  and  art,  but  altogethei 
deserted  by  their  inhabitants.  More  than  a  hun- 
dred-of  them  they  burned  to  "'he  ground,  desolating 
the  lands,  destroying  the  vintage,  and  fulfilling  to 


THK    CRUSADERS.  1J49 

the  uttermost  of  their  power  the  type  of  the  locust 
army.  It  was  on  the  first  of  August  that  they 
found  themselves  within  sight  of  Carcassonne. 
Here,  beside  the  Aube,  they  hastily  encamped  with- 
out molestation,  and  prepared  to  assail  it  on  the  fol 
lowing  day. 

The  .eader  in  this  attack  was  Simon  de  Montfort, 
Earl  of  Leicester,  whose  character  stands  out  in 
frightful  prominence,  embodying  all  that  was  most 
flagitious  in  perfidy,  most  grasping  in  avarice  and 
ambition,  most  pitiless  in  cruelty,  and  most  grovel- 
ling in  the  debasing  superstition  which,  if  he  felt  it 
not,  he  at  least  assumed,  as  the  divine  warrant  for 
all  his  crimes.  By  the  mother's  side,  his  English 
ancestry  was  noble,  and  distinguished,  tracing  its 
root  to  royalty  ;  but  his  birth  was  French,  and  he 
had  devoted  his  life  to  the  service  of  the  nominal 
church  ;  having  especially  made  himself  conspicu- 
ous in  the  Eastern  Crusades.  Nothing  could  better 
accord  with  the  bent  of  this  man's  mind  than  the 
present  war  with  the  Saints.  Pie  hated  with  deadly 
venom  the  faith  and  the  followers  of  Jesus,  and 
sweet  to  his  spirit  must  have  been  the  dying  cries 
that  resounded  through  Beziers.  Impatient  to  re- 
new the  scene,  he  led  his  troops  to  an  attack  on  the 
outlermost  suburb  of  Carcassonne  ;  but  he  was  met 
by  Raymond  Roger,  at  the  head  of  his  gallant 
knights  and  citizens,  who,  during  a  combat  of  two 

o  o 

hours,  repulsed  the  enemy.     The  subui  b  was,  how- 
>ver,  weakly    brtifiet1,   in    comparison    with   othei 


130  THE    CKUSADERS. 

quarters,  and  at  length  its  defenders  abanJone,  it, 
retiring  into  the  second  suburb,  which  de  Montfort 
also  attempted  to  carry,  b  it  in  vain.  For  the  space 
of  eight  days  the  young  Viscount  made  good  his 
position,  continually  driving  back,  with  considerable 
loss,  the  besieging  body.  At  the  end  of  that  time, 
he  deliberately  fired  the  buildings  that  composed  it, 
so  depriving  the  enemy  of  any  advantage  that  they 
might  have  derived  from  its  possession  ;  and  leav- 
ing it  a  mass  of  smoking  ruins,  he  retreated  into  the 
city. 

Imagination  would  fain  picture  the  throng  of 
anxious  faces  that  looked  down  from  the  rampart- 
walls  upon  their  gallant  chief  and  his  companions  in 
arms,  while  thus  holding  at  bay  the  ferocious  con- 
querors  of  Beziers.  There  were  many  whose  dear- 
est earthly  ties  had  there  been  cut  asunder  by  the 
Crusader's  sword,  without  having  even  fallen  under 
the  suspicion  of  disloyalty  to  Rome  ;  and  many 
others  who  were  more  than  willing  to  shed  their 
own  life-blood  in  testimony  to  the  faith  of  the  Gos- 
pel, witnessing  against  her  abominations.  There 
\va,s  not  one,  perhaps,  who  did  not  feel  a  personal, 
loving  interest  in  the  noble  Raymond  Roger;  and  it 
would  be  little  short  of  sinful  unbelief,  to  doubt 
that  the  supplications  offered  on  his  behalf,  through 
the  alone  Name  of  the  all-sutricient  Saviour,  were 
heard  and  answered  n  the  revelation  of  the  Son  ol 
God  to  his  soul.  On^e  more,  having  abandoned  the 
useless  suburb,  Raymond  found  himself  in  the  midst 


THE    CRUSADERS.  131 

ftf  his  people  ;  and  with  full  purpose  of  heart  he 
prepared  to  defend  the  stout  ramparts  of  Carcas- 
sonne. 

But  flesh  and  blood  were  not  all  against  which  he 
had  to  contend  :  it  was  an  hour  when  the  powers  of 
darkness  had  permission  to  prevail  against  the  Lord's 
people,  and  against  their  honest-hearted  protector. 
Inured  as  we  are  to  contemplate  the  dark  deeds  of 
papal  perfidv,  glorying  in  its  deepest  shame,  there 
is  still  that  in  the  villainy  perpetrated  against  the 
young  Count  that  kindles  afresh  the  flame  of  indig- 
nation, extorting  the  apostrophe  addressed  to  a  mi- 
nor criminal  of  old,  "  0  full  of  all  subtlety  and  mis- 
chief, thou  child  of  the  devil,  thou  enemy  of  all 
righteousness,  wilt  thou  not  cease  to  pervert  the 
right  ways  of  the  Lord  !" 

The  sovereign  to  whom  Raymond  Roger  had 
vowed  fealty,  was  Peter  II.,  King  of  Arragon,  who 
was  also  his  uncle  ;  and  though  a  slave  to  the  pa- 
pacy in  spiritual  matters,  still  alive  to  the  cruel  in- 
justice done  to  the  young  noble;  and  to  the  perfidy 
of  the  Count  of  Toulouse,  whose  presence  here  and 
at  Bexiers  must  not  be  forgotten.  The  Spanish  king, 
repairing  to  the  camp,  addressed  himself  to  this  un- 
happy nobleman,  who  had  married  his  sister,  and 
un'ed  him  to  unite  in  an  effort  on  Raymond  Roger's 

J  O 

behalf,  offering  to  act  as  mediator  between  the  par- 
ties. The  legate,  to  whom  of  course  the  proposal 
was  communicated,  gladly  availed  himself  of  such 
unexpected  means  for  obtaining  information  of  what 


132  THE   CRUSADERS. 

was  going  on  within  the  city,  accepted  the  good  of- 
fices of  the  king,  and  issued  orders  for  the  suspen- 
sion of  hostilities,  while  the  royal  negotiator  was 
engaged  in  his  humane  task.  It  was  a  spectacle 
of  moving  interest  to  the  harrassed  sufferers,  the 
approach  of  their  monarch.  Walls  and  bastions, 
turrets  and  platforms  were  thronged  by  eager  gaz- 
ers :  the  marksmen  stood  prepared,  alert  on  the 
watch  to  detect  any  movement  of  treachery  in  the 
camp  ;  but  all  was  quiet  there.  Carcassonne  pre- 
sented one  living 'mass  of  anxious,  yet  trusting  and 
undismayed  inhabitants,  while  the  drawbridge 
clanked  heavily  as  it  fell,  the  dark  portcullis  slowly 
rose,  the  massive  bolts  of  successive  gates  were 
withdrawn,  and  the  dense  body  of  armed  men  fell 
partially  back,  opening  a  sufficient  space  for  the 
king  and  his  few  attendants  to  pass  on.  The  heart 
of  Pfter,  already  awakening  to  a  sympathy  with  his 
persecuted  people  which  ultimately  led  him  to  yield 
his  life  in  the  battle  against  Rome,  now  swelled  as 
he  received  their  loyal  greetings,  and  yearned  with 
paternal  love  towards  the  noble  young  man  who 
knelt  at  his  feet  in  affectionate  homage. 

Having  ascertained  from  the  Viscount  his  willing- 

O  O 

ness  to  submit  to  any  fair  and  honorable  terms  of 
capitulation,  for  the  sake  of  the  helpless  multitudes 
who  had  taken  refuge  there,  and  who  must  perish 
in  a  protracted  siege,  as  already  they  had  begun  to 
do,  under  the  presence  of  terror,  sickness  and  pri' 
vation,  "but  for  whom,"  said  Raymond,  "  I  swear  to 


THE   CRUSADERS.  133 

your  majesty,  that  I  and  my  own  people  would 
rather  die  of  famine  than  surrender  to  the  legate." 
Peter  returned  to  the  camp  ;  and,  strangely  igno- 
rant of  the  spirit  of  those  with  whom  he  had  to 
deal,  endeavored,  by  representing  the  young  noble's 
extremity,  together  with  his  elevated  self-devotion, 
to  kindle  in  the  bosoms  of  Rome's  delegates  what 
Rome  never  knew— compassion  for  the  afflicted,  and 
sympathy  with  the  generous.  Arnold  Amalric,  re- 
joiced to  have  engaged  so  useful  though  unconscious 
a  tool  for  his  iniquitous  designs,  heard  the  king  out ; 
then,  as  a  matter  of  special  grace  to  his  majesty's 
kinsman,  yielded  permission  for  Raymond  Roger  to 
select  twelve  individuals,  with  whom  he  might  quit 
the  city  unmolested  ;  but  the  sacred  cause  of  the 
most  holy  Church  demanded  that,  with  this  excep- 
tion, all  should  be  abandoned  to  her  mercy  ! 

Dark  and  sad  was  the  brow  of  the  kingly  media- 
tor as  he  re-entered  the  gates,  flung  wide  with  joy- 
ous alacrity  to  admit  his  returning  steps  ;  and  sorely 
did  his  royal  spirit  writhe  beneath  the  fetter  of 
papal  bondage,  as  he  delivered  to  the  Viscount  the 
mocking  message  with  which  he  was  charged.  All 
the  generous  ardor  of  Raymond  Roger's  charactet 
was  roused  into  a  flame  :  he  looked  round  on  the 
terrified  multitude,  who  had  too  truly  read  in  the 
kind's  countenance,  the  failure  of  his  mission  ;  he 

O 

looked  on  the  faithful  companions  who  had  fought  be- 
side him  every  day,  and  patiently  held  with  him  the 
long  night's  watch  ;  and  while  the  glow  of  iadigna- 
12 


134  Tttfi 

tion  mi.ntled  his  choek,  he  answered  with  Vehement 
energy,  "  Rather  will  I  submit  to  be  flayed  alive ! 
The  legate  shall  not  have  at  his  mercy  ;he  least  of 
my  companions  ;  of  these  who,  for  my  sake,  havfi 
braved  the  dangers  that  surround  us." 

Instead  of  urging  the  acceptance  of  Arnold's  in- 
solent terms,  the  king  of  Arragon  warmly  applauded 
his  nephew's  reply  ;  and  then  turning  to  the  knights 
and  citizens,  who  gathered  eagerly  around  him,  he 
exhorted  them  to  defend  themselves,  as  the  only 
alternative  ;  seeing  what  they  had  to  expect  in  the 
event  of  surrendering.  Surely,  as  that  monarch 
repassed  the  drawbridge  of  Carcassoune,  he  must 
have  felt  the  iron  of  Rome's  despotism  entering  his 
very  soul.  So,  sooner  or  later,  will  all  do,  who  lend 
their  power  to  the  Beast,  or  even  suspend  the  re- 
sistance on  which  depends  their  self-preservation. 
The  King  of  Arragon,  as  he  bore  back,  with  a  forced 
semblance  of  personal  courtesy,  that  noble  defiance 
to  the  inflated  priest,  must  have  envied  the  exalted 
position  of  the  poorest  citizen  who  had  barred  the 
gate  on  his  retreating  steps.  A  fearful  account  have 
those  monarchs  to  render  who  connive  at  the  spread, 
or  even  at  the  existence  of  the  papal  usurpation  over 
souls  committed  to  their  parental  charge  ! 

Scarcely  had  the  king  quitted  the  legate's  gor- 
geous pavilion,  making  known  what  every  one  was 
fully  prepared  to  hear,  ere  a  fresh  and  furious  as- 
sault was  made  upon  the  walls  of  Carcassonne. 
With  ferocious  shouting*  cheering  on  each  othor  to 


THE   CrJSADfiHS.  13d 


the  work,  the  army  brought  faggots,  wl  ich  they 
cast  into  the  ditches,  endeavoring  so  to  fill  the  chasm, 
and  form  a  path  to  the  ramparts.  Very  little  oppo- 
sition was  offered,  and  they  reached  the  walls,  in- 
tending to  scale  them  ;  when  a  sudden  deluge  ol* 
water  and  oil,  heated  to  a  boiling  pitch,  with  masses 
of  stone,  bars  of  iron,  and  missiles  of  every  descrip- 
tion, were  hurled  upon  them  from  above;  and  this 
was  repeated  as  often  as  they  rallied  to  the  charge, 
until  many  lay  slain,  and  serious  discouragement  man- 
ifested itself  in  the  host,  who  considered  that  their 
stipulated  work  was  to  murder  and  to  plunder,  not 
to  wage  equal  war  with  men  of  courage  and  of 
strength.  Confident  assurances  of  a  miraculous  in- 
terposition had  been  spread  among  them,  to  heighten 
their  fanatic  zeal  ;  recollection  that  their  forty  days' 
engagement  was  well  nigh  expired,  combining  with 
the  spectacle  of  their  slaughtered  comrades  beneath 
the  walls,  began  to  operate  so  unfavorably,  that  the 
crafty  legate  perceived  he  must  strike  a  final  blow, 
or  behold  the  escape  of  a  prey  that  he  could  not 
endure  to  lose.  Employing  the  arts  that  rarely  fail, 
he  so  won  over  a  gentleman  in  his  retinue  whom  he 
knew  to  be  a  kinsman  and  early  friend  of  Raymond 
Roger,  as  to  induce  him  to  become  a  decoy  for  that 
noble-minded  young  man  ;  who,  on  his  part,  desired 
nothing  so  much  as  to  obtain  for  his  companions  the 
amnesty  which  he  was  assured  would  be  accorded 
to  them,  could  he  but  himself  fairly  plead  a  causu 
that  lie  knew  to  be  righteous  and  just.  The  legate'a 


138  THE   CRtTSADERS. 

bait  was,  theiefore,  presently  taken:  Raymond  Ro- 
ger asked  and  obtained  a  safe  conduct  for  himself 
and  such  companions  as  he  should  bring  with  him, 
into  the  presence  of  the  legate  :  and  back  to  the 
city  if  their  negotiation  failed.  Solemn  oaths  con- 
firmed the  pledge,  on  the  part  of  tke  crusading 
leaders,  who  all  joined  in  the  legate's  guarantee ; 
and,  thus  assured,  the  young  lord  of  the  desolated 
Beziers  placed  himself  at  the  head  of  three  hundred 
chosen  knights,  and  marched  forth — lambs  into  an 
assemblage  of  wolves ;  unsuspecting  birds  Hying 
into  the  snare  of  the  fowler! 

In  the  legate's  pavilion  all  the  principal  leaders 
were  assembled  ;  and  they  masked  their  foul  de- 
sign, and  gazed  with  concealed  triumph  on'their  in- 
nocent prey,  while,  in  a  speech  full  of  the  nobfest 
sentiments  of  princely  and  chivalric  devotion,  if  no 
higher  and  holier  principle  was  set  forth  in  it,  he  de- 
fended his  own  conduct,  and  pleaded  the  cause  o{ 
his  people.  He  censed,  and  awaited  the  legate's 
reply  :  it  was  given,  as  Rome  generally  replies  to  the 
plea  of  reason  and  conscience.  In  a  moment  the 
overpowering  rush  of  armed  men  decided  the  matter ; 
Raymond  Roger  was  disarmed,  bound,  and  delivered 
as  a  traitor  to  the  custody  of  the  dark  and  merciless 
Simon  de  Montfort.  His  knights  were  in  like  man- 
ner seized,  and  within  sight  of  the  agonized  citizens 
of  Carcassonne,  all  weie  led  away  in  captivity;  to 
what  fate  mighi  easily  oe  conjectured.  The  shout 
of  anticipated  riumph,  of  unbounded  vengeance, 


THE    CRUSADERS.  137 

cse  ..igh  from  the  perfidious  camp  towards  the 
walls  of  the  city  that  should  on  the  morrow  reek 
with  such  blood,  and  blacken  under  such  flames  as 
had  recently  swept  through  Beziers.  But  such  was 
not  the  Lord's  will :  an  ancient  subterranean  passage 
of  several  leagues  in  length  existed,  known  but  to  a 
few  of  the  most  trusty  burgesses  ;  and  wholly  unsus- 
pected by  the  enemy.  In  the  darkness  of  evening, 
the  whole  population  entered  this  cavern,  and  closing 
after  them  its  secret  mouth,  they  journeyed  on ;  in 
darkness,  and  in  silence,  and  in  sorrow  ;  weeping  the 
fate  of  their  beloved  chief,  and  the  rendering  ot 
many  a  fond  tie  never,  to  be  re-united  on  earth :  but 
they  went  safely ;  and  the  morning  sun  shone  on 
the  deserted  towers  of  Carcassonne,  lisrhtinsr  the 

O  o 

ravenous  eagle  on  his  path,  not  to  seize  the  prey, 
and  revel  in  his  Avonted  feast  of  blood,  but  to  ascer- 
tain that,  by  means  wholly  inexplicable,  that  prey 
had  escaped ;  and  the  only  vital  streams  he  might 
hope  to  drain  were  those  of  his  noble,  his  betrayed 
captives  of  yesterday. 

No  means  wore  neglected  by  Arnold  Amalric  to 
make  a  fair  show  of  what  was  universally  felt  as  a 
baffling  arid  mortifying  discomfiture.  He  caused  it 
to  be  reported  that  he,  acting  in  his  irresponsible 
capacity  of  spiritual  leader,  had  seen  good  to  permit 
the  secret  evacuation  of  Carcassonne  by  the  bulk  of 
its  inhabitants,  having  first  secured  the  person  of 
the  contumacious  Raymond  Roger,  and  of  a  certain 
12* 


139  THE    CKUSADEKS. 

number  of  .suspected  heretics,  who  would  be  immo 
lated  in  the  midst  of  the  deserted  city.  He  entered 
its  walls  with  the  usual  warlike  pomp  of  his  most 
incongruous  command ;  took  formal  possession  of  all 
the  spoil  in  the  name  of  the  Church,  and  then  pre- 
pared the  spectacle  that  was  to  gratify  his  san- 
guinary band  of  fanatics. 

In  addition  to  the  three  hundred  gallant  knights 
who  had  accompanied  Raymond  Roger,  on  the 
strength  of  the  legate's  safe  conduct,  and  who  had, 
with  him,  been  treacherously  overpowered  and  im- 
prisoned, the  scouts  of  the  army  had  captured  a 
number  of  poor  fugitives  in  the  act  of  escaping  by 
mountain-passes,  and  through  forest  tiacts,  from  the 
beleaguered  city.  Many  of  these  were  women ; 
mothers  with  their  infants,  and  maidens  seeking  to 
rescue  their  still  younger  brothers  and  sisters  from 
the  sword  of  slaughter,  or  hastening  in  silent  panic 
to  hide  themselves,  after  the  terrific  view  obtained 
from  the  walls,  of  that  fierce  band  of  violent  and 
cruel  men.  From  all  these,  Arnold  selected  four 
hundred  and  fifty  individuals,  as  lying  under  just 
suspicion  of  heresy,  and  condemned  them  to  public 
execution.  To  vary  the  spectacle,  and  as  far  as  he 
could  to  gratify  the  taste  of  his  followers,  he  ordered 
fifty  of  these  to  be  hanged,  while  four  hundred  were 
burnt  alive.  At  Beziers,  the  work  was  a  general 
massacre  ;  this  bore  rr  are  of  the  aspect  of  a  martyr- 
dom. There  the  word  was  "Kill  them  all!"  here, 
from  a  limited  number,  entrapped  by  shameful  fraud, 


THE    CRUSADERS.  139 

or  seized  by  cruel  force,  a  selection  was  m?tde,  and 
every  individual  suffered  as  a  Christian.  We  hum- 
bly trust  that  all  among  them  deserved  the  name; 
that  such  as  had  not  fled  from  the  sorceries  of  Great 
Babylon,  and  laid  hold  on  the  free  mercies  of  God 
in  Christ  Jesus,  were  enabled  so  to  do,  in  that  day 
of  calamity,  and  were  made  worthy  of  the  martyr's 
crown.  The  day  is  coming,  that  shall  reveal  all 
these  things ;  and  when  the  past  is  laid  open  to  our 
view,  with  all  its  horrors,  when  we  see  before  us 
those  who  were  most  cruelly  tortured  and  slain  for 
the  testimony  of  Jesus,  we  may  comprehend  some- 
what of  the  spirit  of  that  exulting  apostrophe,  "  Re- 
joice !  ye  heavens,  and  ye  holy  apostles  and  prophets  : 
for  God  hath  avenged  vou  of  her!" 

O  •' 

The  last  emblem  of  the  fading  fires  had  died  away, 
and  the  suspended  bodies  waved,  cold  and  rigid,  in 
every  light  breeze  that  swept  over  the  lofty  turrets 
of  Carcassonne,  and  none  survived  but  the  captive 
in  his  lonely  dungeon,  of  all  who  had  peopled  the 
busy  scene,  and  had  owned  its  many  habitations. 
In  their  stead  was  to  be  seen  a  motley  crew,  gath- 
ered from  among  all  classes,  and  wearing  the  cos- 
tume respectively  of  France,  of  England,  Germany, 
Italy,  and  the  provinces.  Innumerable,  and  active 
beyond  all  others,  were  the  swarms  of  priests  and 
friars,  passing  to  and  fro,  kindling  and  keeping  alive 
the  spirit  of  merciless  bigotry  in  ihe  bosoms  of  men 
who  regarded  them  as  their  only  guides  to  heaven; 
and  who  never  paused  to  inquire  how  far  the  doc- 


140  THE    CRUSADERS. 

trines  taught,  the  example  set,  and  the  actions 
prompted  by  them  accorded  with  the  unhersa-lly 
admitted  fact,  that  the  God  whom  they  professed 
to  represent  is  a  God  of  holiness  and  mercy  ;  of 
truth  and  love.  But  for  these  firebrands  of  Rome, 
the  flame  of  persecution  against  God's  heritage  had 
never  been  kindled  :  under  their  rule  it  was  likely 
never  to  be  quenched,  while  one  mortal  was  sup- 
posed to  breathe,  independent  of  the  papal  will. 

Grouped  together,  in  one  of  the  open  squares, 
near  which  hung  the  ghastly  forms  of  several  of 
Raymond  Rogers's  noble  knights,  might  be  seen 
some  warriors  of  lofty  bearing,  whose  brows  were 
clouded,  and  their  tones  bespoke  a  swelling  indig- 
nation. They  were  lords  of  France,  who,  while 
they  saw  the  fairest  scenes  of  their  fertile  country 
desolated,  and  the  life-blood  of  their  countrymen 
and  countrywomen  shed  like  water  on  every  side 
by  the  hands  of  a  foreign  banditti,  while  murder  in 
cold  blood  was  the  finale  to  every  combat,  and  the 
vilest  were  selected  to  butcher  the  noble  and  the 
fair,  had  begun  to  ask  themselves  how  far  it  con- 
sorted with  their  knightly  and  national  honor  to 
take  part  in  such  disgraceful  scenes  at  the  bidding 
of  a  monk.  Arnold  Amalric  could  not  remain  in 
ignorance  of  any  whisper  that  was  breathed  touch- 
ing the  supreme  power  of  Holy  Church  ;  and  this, 
of  course,  speedily  reached  his  ears.  He  therefore 
prepared  to  meet  the  rising  spirit  of  dissatisfaction, 
by  a  new  prize  for  the  ambitious  to  grasp  at.  He 


THE    CRUSADERS.  141 

called  a  council,  and  set  before  the  assembled  no- 
bles the  necessity  of  placing  the  conquered  prov- 
inces under  the  rule  of  some  prince,  whose  martial 
prowess  should  help  forward  the  work,  and  his  de- 
votion to  the  Church  prove  a  guarantee  for  his  zeal- 
ous co-operation  in  utterly  exterminating  heresy 
The  viscounties  of  Beziers  and  Carcassonne  were 
now  at  his  disposal ;  and  he  concluded  by  declaring 
his  intention  of  conferring  them  on  the  Duke  of 
Burgundy.  That  prince,  however,  much  to  the  le- 
gate's dismay,  not  only  rejected  the  gift,  but  de- 
clared that  they  had  done  Raymond  Roger  wrong 
enough  already,  without  also  despoiling  him  of  his 
heritage.  Language  so  accordant  with  their  new- 
ly-awakened feelings  of  compunction  was  eagerly 
echoed  by  other  princes :  The  Count  of  Nevers,  and 
the  Count  of  St.  Paul,  to  whom  it  was  alternately 
offered,  expressed  themselves  to  the  same  effect ; 
and  Arnold  began  to  feel  the  perplexity  of  his  situ- 
ation ;  and,  to  lighten  the  burden,  took  two  bishops 
and  four  knights  into  commission  with  himself,  to 
deliberate  and  decide  on  the  fate  of  the  desolated 
provinces.  They  made  sure  of  their  man  before 
again  subjecting  their  princely  offer  to  a  refusal. 
Simon  de  Montfort,  avaricious,  ambitious,  cruel, 
and  utterly  without  scruple  as  to  the  means  by 
which  his  evil  propensities  were  to  be  gratified,  was 
not  likely  to  decline  the  gift,  or  to  shrink  from  tht 
deed  that  would  most  effectually  confirm  it.  Ha 
accepted  the  lordship  of  his  noble  prisoner,  Ray 


142  THE    CRUSADr,KS. 

mond  Roger ;  and  he  sealed  the  contract  by  admin 
istering  to  the  Viscount,  who,  it  will  be  remembered, 
was  committed  to  his  safe-keeping,  a  dose  of  poison. 

It  was  publicly  announced,  with  all  due  manifes- 
tations of  regret,  that  Raymond  Roger  had  died  of 
a  severe  epidemic,  and  only  the  suspicion  that  must 
rest  on  such  an  event,  at  that  juncture  and  under 
those  circumstances,  could  be  brought  to  contradict 
it ;  but  the  master-spirit  of  all  this  iniquity,  the  pre- 
siding Pope,  has  left  it  on  record  in  his  voluminous 
correspondence,  that  Raymond  Roger  died  a  violent 
death.  In  the  Beast's  wiir  with  the  Saints,  he  thus 
ft,'ll,  firmly  espousing  and  faithfully  upholding  the 
cause  of  the  saints :  and  we  do  trust,  that  the  great 
day  of  the  Lord  will  reveal  him,  numbered  with  the 
saints  in  glory  everlasting. 

But  this  assassination  was  not  perpetrated  until 
the  November  following  the  siege,  although  we  may 
well  believe  that  it  formed  part  of  the  original  plan. 
The  wretched  Count  of  Toulouse  was  an  eye-witness 
to  all  that  his  cowardly  perfidy  had  brought  on  his 
noble  nephew,  and  the  many  thousands  of  innocent 
victims  whose  blood  cried  aloud  from  the  ground. 
But  no  hope  could  exist  that  the  Viscount  of  Beziera 
would  ever  so  bend  his  neck  beneath  the  yo'ke.  Ex- 
communication laving  been  fulminated  against  him, 
followed  by  forcible  deposition  and  imprisonment, 
death  only  remained.  He  was  no  longer  the  lord  of 
I  hose  magnificent  domains,  but  a  private  individual, 
accused  of  heretical  pravity.  Nevertheless,  the  fact 


THE    CRUSADERS.  143 

rfras  plain,  that  he  still  reigned  in  the  wannest  affec- 
tions of  his  people  ;  and  it  also  became  manifest  that 
his  brother  nobles  entertained  a  strong  feeling  of 
sympathy  for  his  afflictions  :  they  had  come  up  to 
fight  against  him :  and,  blinded  by  the  sorceries  of 
Rome,  they  had  connived  at  the  infamous  act  by 
which  he  was  decoyed,  betrayed,  and  captured. 
Still,  when  they  saw  a  comparative  stranger,  of  char- 
acter so  repulsive  as  de  Montfort,  taking  high  state 
upon  him,  and  carrying  on  a  war  of  extermination 
against  the  refugees  who  were  now  his  subjects, 
as  one  by  one  he  reduced  the  castles  where  they  had 
endeavored  to  fortify  themselves,  these  nobles  were 
moved  by  a  spirit  of  commiseration  for  the  young 
Viscount,  that  might  ripen  into  something  danger- 
ous to  Simon's  ill-acquired  power ;  and  hence  the 
execution  of  the  last  enormity — the  murder  of  the 
imprisoned  Raymond. 

The  expiration  of  the  forty  days  had  found  de 
Montfort  embarrassed  by  his  recent  acquisition  ;  and 
had  all  the  crusaders  then  returned  to  their  homes, 
he  might  have  sought  in  vain  to  make  good  his  hold 
on  the  prey :  but  though  many  withdrew,  others 
were  found  willing  to  prolong  the  term  of  their  ser- 
vice, in  the  prospect  of  farther  blood  and  spoil. 
Besides,  they  were  now  in  some  sort  under  the  lead- 
ership of  him  who  assumed  to  be  lord  of  the  terri- 
tory, and  who  would  have  it  in  his  power  to  reward 
with  permanent  advantages,  such  as  might  show 
themselves  zealous  in  assisting  to  establish  his  do* 


144  THE    CRUSADERS. 

minion.  Here  we  see  the  craft  and  sul  tlety  of  Satan 
and  his  agents :  much  of  the  fierce  fanatic  zeal  that 
led  the  army  forth,  had  now  been  quenched  in 
blood ;  many  who  seriously  made  the  bargain  with 
God's  pretended  vicegerent,  purchasing  absolution 
for  all  their  sins  at  the  regular  price  of  forty  days' 
service  in  the  cause  of  "  the  church,"  having  fulfilled 
their  part  of  the  compact,  recognized  no  further 
claim  upon  them.  It  was,  therefore,  needful  to 
prepare  some  new  bait;  and  this  was  done,  by 
placing  before  them  not  only  heretics  to  extirpate, 
but  rebels-  to  subdue  :  not  only  towns  to  sack,  with 
a  general  scramble  for  portable  spoil,  but  broad 
lands  to  be  parcelled  out,  and  fair  portions  to  be  be- 
stowed by  a  sovereign  prince,  under  whose  banner 
they  were  invited  to  enlist ;  while  he  professed  no 
other  object  than  that  of  doing  the  will  of  the 
church,  and  conquering  the  whole  country,  that  he 
might  lay  it  at  the  feet  of  the  Pope,  wholly  purged 
of  whatsoever  had  dared  to  exalt  the  Gospel  of 
Christ  above  the  bulls  of  the  Vatican.  Simon  de 
Montfort  knew  well  his  position  ;  he  had  withheld 
his  acceptance  of  his  captive's  possessions,  until  the 
bishops  publicly  threw  themselves  at  his  feet,  im- 
ploring him  to  assume  that  authority  in  order  to 
avenge  the  quarrel  of  the  Church,  and  to  crush  her 
audacious  enemies,  whom  they  represented  as  being 
too  numerous,  and  through  the  countenance  afforded 
by  the  barons,  too  powerful,  to  be  subdued  without 
the  aid  of  the  secular  arm  of  military  prowess 


THE    CRUSADERS.  145 

The  war  from  first  to  last,  and  in  all  us  bearings, 
was  avowedly  waged  against  those  whom  God  de- 
signates as  his  saints ;  and  Simon  de  Montfort  miglrt 
just  as  well  have  aimed  to  seize  the  crown  of  France 
or  of  England,  as  the  viscounties  of  Beziers  and 
Carcassonne,  had  he  stood  forward  in  any  other 
capacity  than  that  of  the  champion  of  the  Church, 
warring  against  heretics. 

Yet,  with  all  these  facts  spread  before  us  on  the 
page  of  history,  recorded  in  the  letters  of  Innocent 
111.,  and  chronicled  by  Peter  de  Vaux  Cernay,  the 
exulting  eye-witness  of  such  atrocities  as  we  have 
noticed  and  have  yet  to  notice — with  all  this,  it  is 
actually  become  a  point  of  honor  with  some  Protes- 
tant writers,  and  ministers  of  religion  too,  in  our 
day,  to  vindicate  the  Church  of  Rome  from  the 
charge  of  persecuting  cruelty  ;  to  deny  that  she  has 
ever  made  war  upon  the  saints,  or  that  they  have 
been  delivered  into  her  hand  !  In  too  many  cases, 
this  argument  is  pursued  with  a  covert  design  of 
ultimately  bringing  back  to  Home  those  who  have 
happily  "  come  out  of  her  ;"  in  others,  it  is  adopted 
to  support  a  theory  concerning  the  supposed  futurity 
of  the  revelation  of  Antichrist :  but  in  either  view 
it  is  an  unwarrantable  denial  of  some  of  the  plain- 
est facts  that  can  be  pointed  out  in  the  page  of  his- 
tory ;  a  closing  of  the  eyes  against  the  most  striking 
fulfilment  of  the  prophetic  word. 

Yet  worse,  if  possible :  this  argument  can  only 
be  sustained  by  assisting  to  perpetuate,  and  to  cir- 
13 


146  THE  CRUSADERS. 

culate  more  widely,  the  shameful  calumnies  uttered 
against  Christ's  little  flock  by  their  cruel  destroyers. 
The  blessing  was  not  attached  to  persecution  only ; 
there  were  other  adjuncts,  set  forth  by  our  Lord 
Himself.  "Blessed  are  ye  when  men  shall  revile 
you,  and  persecute  you,  and  shall  say  all  manner 
of  evil  against  you,  falsely,  for  my  sake.  Rejoice, 
and  be  exceeding  glad,  for  great  is  your  reward  in 
heaven ;  for  so  persecuted  they  the  prophets  which 
were  before  you."  If  this  important  mark  of  disci- 
pleship  had  been  wanting  :  if  the  servant  had  been 
above  his  Lord,  and  the  household  had  remained 
with  characters  unassailed,  where  the  Master  of  the 
house  had  been  called  Beelzebub,  we  might  indeed 
find  cause  to  hesitate,  and  to  ask, — Could  these 
be  the  saints  ?  But  no  such  difficulty  meets  us  : 
charges  the  most  foul,  the  most  incredible  ;  charges 
precisely  similar  to  some  that  were  brought  by  the 
heathen  against  those  who  formed  the  very  earliest 
Church  of  Christ,  were  unsparingly  heaped  upon 
the  harmless  Albigenses,  so  completing  the  picture 
that  in  all  its  parts  it  was  truly  theirs.  They  were 
"  poor  in  spirit ;"  humble,  unobtrusive  people,  pur- 
suing in  quietness  their  lowly  occupations.  They 
"  mourned ;"  not  only  the  perpetual  dishonor 
brought  on  the  name  of  Christ  by  those  who  as- 
sumed lo  be  his  followers  and  his  ministers,  while 
living  in  the  open  practice  of  idolatry,  and  of  every 
moral  transgression,  but  the  heavy  calamities  brought 
on  a  friendly  pe  opl«  by  thwir  sojourn  among 


THE    CRUSADERS.  147 

and  the  certain  fate  that  awaited  them  and  theirs, 
gave  them  cause  to  mourn  ;  always  sorrowful,  though 
always  rejoicing.  They  were  "meek  ;"  marvellous 
are  the  instances  of  lamblike  resignation,  unresist- 
ing submission  to  the  hand  that  brandished  I  he 
knife,  heaped  the  faggot,  or  knotted  the  cord,  that 
should  send  them  by  a  violent  death  into  the  pres- 
ence of  the  Lord.  We  never  hear  of  the  Albigen- 
ses,  as  such,  taking  up  arms  to  defend  themselves : 
the  price  at  which  mercy  might  have  been  obtained 
by  the  citizens  of  the  assailed  places,  was  that  of 
delivering  them  up  to  the  will  of  their  enemies. 
Resistance  on  their  part  was  never  pre-supposed, 
either  in  the  proffer  or  in  the  refusal  of  such  terms. 
That  they  hungered  and  thirsted  after  righteous- 
ness, was,  in  fact,  the  very  ground  work  of  the  charge 
against  them :  their  anxious  search  after  simple 
truth,  their  rejection  of  all  that  militated  against  it; 
their  diligent  use  of  the  means  of  grace,  exhorting 
and  confirming  one  another  in  the  faith ;  their  as- 
semblages for  prayer  and  praise,  and  breaking  of 
bread ;  all  these  things  are  notorious,  as  the  hold 
that  their  enemies  took  on  them.  Had  theirs  been 
a  religion  of  negatives,  they  might  have  lived  safely 
and  quietly  enough.  That  they  were  merciful,  do- 
ing wrong  to  no  man ;  that  purity  of  heart  was 
evinced  by  i  spotless  life,  is  evident.  The  very 
name  by  which  they  were  known  in  Italy, — Cath- 
ari, — expresses  purity :  and  it  was  alleged  against 
them  as  an  aggravation  of  .their  heretical  opinions, 


148  THE    CRUSADERS. 

that  they  recommended  them  by  such  sanctity  of 
conduct  as  drew  many  to  listen  to  them.  Peace- 
makers they  were,  in  the  fullest,  highest  sense  of 
the  word  ;  for  not  only  did  they  iead  lives  of  exem- 
plary peaceableness,  but  they  spread  on  all  sides  the 
Gospel  of  everlasting  peace  ;  even  that  peace  which 
the  blood  of  the  cross  makes  between  God  and 
man.  Persecuted,  and  that  for  righteousness'  sake, 
they  were,  even  to  the  death  ;  with  the  most  savage 
and  sanguinary  persecution  that  Satan  could  devise 
and  man  carry  out ;  and  here  we  have  eight  out  of 
the  nine  marks  by  which  our  Lord  describes  those 
•who  are  "  blessed."  But,  on  coming  to  the  ninth, 
it  is  found  to  form  the  pre-eminently  distinguishing 
feature  of  this  afflicted  Church  ;  and  therefore — "  0 
fools  and  blind  !" — therefore  the  case  is  decided 
against  them,  and  sometimes  too  by  men  whose 
office  it  is  to  remind  the  disciples  of  the  Lord  that 
he  has  also  said,  "  Woe  unto  you  when  all  men 
speak  well  of  you  ;  for  so  did  their  fathers  unto 
the  false  prophets." 

But,  leaving  out  of  the  question  the  actual  char- 
acters of  the  Albigenses,  let  us  turn  to  the  vaunted 
Church  of  Christ,  and  inquire  how  she  fulfilled  her 
duty  towards  those  whom  she  believed  to  be  still  in 
fatal  error.  It  is  impossible  for  any  searcher  of 
God's  word  to  be  in  doubt  as  to  the  course  indicated 
for  the  Christian,  whether  lay  or  clerical,  to  take,  in 
reference  to  such  as  disbelieve  or  even  oppose  the 
Gospel.  "  Knowing  the  terrors  of  the  Lord,  wo 


THK    CRTTSADEKS.  149 

persuade  n,en,"  not  imfrison,  torture,  and  burn 
them.  "Showing  out  of  a  good  conversation  your 
works  with  meekness  of  wisdom  " — not  with  the 
thunder  of  menace,  and  the  violence  of  armed  power. 
Above  all,  in  the  instructions  expressly  given,  by  di- 
vine inspiration,  to  one  who  was  ordained  to  a  high- 
ly responsible  office  in  the  Christian  church,  and 
through  him  to  all  who  should  hold  the  like  author- 
ity, we  have  these  emphatic  words  : — "  The  man  of 
God  must  not  strive,  but  be  gentle  unto  all  men, 
patient,  in  meekness  instructing  them  that  oppose 
themselves,  if  God,  peradventure,  will  give  them 
repentance  unto  salvation,  that  they  may  recover 
themselves  from  the  snare  of  the.  devil,  by  whom 
they  are  led  captive  at  his  will."  The  very  worst, 
most  extravagant,  most  incredible  charges  brought 
against  the  Albigenses  and  other  victims  of  Romish 

o  o 

persecution,  could  not,  if  fully  proved,  amount  to 
more  than  this — that  they  were  entangled  in  the 
snares  of  the  devil,  and  led  captive  by  him  at  his 
will.  Where  is  the  gentleness,  where  the  patience, 
where  the  meek  instruction  that  the  "  man  of  God  " 
is  commanded  especially  to  bring  into  prominence 
in  such  a  case  ?  Shall  we  seek  them  in  the  annals 
of  Peter  de  Vaux  Cernay,  or  in  any  annals,  ecclesi- 
astical or  secular,  of  Papal  Rome  ?  Seeking,  shall 
\ve  iind  aii"ht  but  the  darkest,  most  fearful  contrast 

O 

to  what  the  Holy  Spirit  has  traced  as  the  duty,  the 
badge  of  Christ's  Church  ?    Yet  once  again,  "  Breth- 
ren, if  one  of  you  be  overtaken  in  a  fault,  ye  that 
13* 


150  Jifc    CRUSADERS. 

are  spiritual  restore  such  an  one  in  'Jic  spiiit  01 
meekness,  considering  thyself,  lest  thou  also  be 
tempted.  Bear  ye  one  another's  burdens,  and  so 
fulfil  the  law  of  Christ."  That  loving  law  of  Him 
who  came  not  to  destroy  men's  lives,  but  to  save 
them  ;  who  called  on  the  sin-burdened  pilgrim  to 
learn  of  Him,  the  meek  and  lowly-hearted  Saviour, 
that  he  might  find  rest  unto  his  soul ;  who  bade  to 
bless,  not  to  curse  ;  yea,  to  return  cursing  with  bless- 
ing, and  hatred  with  love,  and  persecution  with  acts 
of  benevolent  good  will — that  law  stands  out  in  such 
dazzling  contrast  to  the  blackness  of  darkness  that 
shrouds  such  deeds  as  we  are  compelled  to  recog- 
nize as  the  authorized  and  vaunted  deeds  of  Romish 
cruelty  throughout  the  blood-stained  history  of  her 
/ron  rule,  that  we  gaze  with  dismay  upon  the  spec- 
tacle, and  reject,  on  the  strength  of  God's  own 
word,  the  claim  of  the  alien  usurper  to  any  part  of 
lot  in  the  matter  of  our  faith  and  hope  "  By  theif 
works  ye  shall  know  them." 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE    CAVERN. 

XT  is  now  winter:  heavy  rains  have  swept  over  th€ 
mountain-ridges  the  fallen  honors  of  summer,  and 

O 

accumulated  in  the  narrow  passes  below  a  body  of 
humid  obstructions,  that  render  them  well  nigh  im- 
passable to  unpractised  steps.  At  intervals  a  nar- 
row cave  presents  an  opening,  lately  overhung  with 
the  mingled  festoon  of  tangled  wild-flower  and  strag- 
gling vine,  the  pleasant  retreat  of  the  weary  travel- 
ler or  laboring  hind,  during  the  noontide  hour,  when 
the  rays  of  a  vertical  sun  streamed  down  into  the 
little  valley,  but  now  steaming  with  unwholesome 
damps,  sufficient  to  repel  any  foot  from  their  chasms, 
however  way-worn,  and  solicitous  for  momentary 
repose.  The  continual  drip  from  overhanging  heights, 
far  above,  and  the  frequent  bursting  of  a  miniature 
cascade  from  some  gully  where  the  waters  had  ac- 
cumulated, rendering  these  low  passes  so  uninviting 
during  the  wet  season,  that  he  who  should  have 
chosen  to  shape  his  course  through  one  of  them, 
must  not  calculate  on  meeting  a  fellow-man  in  their 
anwholesome  recesses.  The  neighboring  peasants. 


152  '.  HE    CAVERN. 

and  such  as,  in  more  genial  seasons,  would  Iia7« 
preferred  the  sheltered  glen,  now  took  a  more  cir- 
cuitous route,  on  firmer  ground,  and  in  a  more  ele- 
vated region. 

Yet  here  if;  is  that  «ve  must  search,  if  we  woulil 
meet  with  the  scattered  remnant  of  the  Lord's  ex- 
hausted flock ;  once  so  fairly  pastured  where  none 
made  them  afraid,  under  the  kindly  sway  of  Ray- 
mond Roger,  viscount  de  Beziers.  WoundeJ  and 
torn,  despoiled  of  the  little  all  that  once  was  theirs, 
hunted  f'om  their  houses,  and  sprinkled  in  their 
flight  with  the  life-blood  of  their  nearest,  dearest 
connections,  overtaken  by  the  armed  assassin's  arm, 
these  forlorn  beings  would  still  persist  in  assembling 
themselves  together,  for  purposes  of  prayer,  aud 
praise,  and  mutual  exhortation  ;  though  to  do  so 
they  must  brave  danger  in  many  forms,  combining 
the  possibility  of  discovery  where  every  nook  and 
corner  was  likely  to  be  ransacked  fora  fresh  victim, 
with  the  more  certain  perils  of  that  most  unwhole- 
some atmosphere,  leaguing  as  it  seemed  to  do  with 
merciless  man  for  the  destruction  of  the  helpless. 

Different  indeed  is  the  group  that  we  shall  now 
encounter,  from  the  peaceful  little  congregation 
formerly  assembled  in  a  spot  no  less  peaceful  than 
themselves.  Not  many  aged  pilgrims  are  here :  the 
tottering  step  ever  proved  unequal  to  escape  the 
powerful  stride  of  pursuing  hatred;  and  in  many 
instances  the  silver-haired  Christian  had  offered  him- 
self more  than  willingly  to  death  for  the  testimony 


THE   CAVKUN.  158 

»f  Jesus.  But  there  were  many  of  middle  age, 
whose  premature  gray  hairs  bespoke  a  heaviei  bur- 
den of  years  than  they  had  really  borne,  and  whose 
frames,  bent  with  sorrow  and  privation,  and  habitual 
crouching  in  low  places  for  concealment,  had  lost 
the  elasticity  belonging  to  them.  Among  these 
were  widowed  wives,  bereaved  mothers,  and  men 
whose  utmost  strength  had  been  exerted  in  vain  to 
save  their  partners  and  their  little  ones  from  the 
deadly  grasp  of  Rome's  vulture  bands ;  and  who 
had  themselves  escaped,  they  knew  not  how,  or  why, 
save  that  it  pleased  the  Lord  they  should  yet  a  while 
remain  to  glorify  Him  in  the  fires.  There  was  youth 
too,  blooming  and  bright  when  the  last  summer's 
flowers  had  bloomed  ;  but  now  scarcely  less  a  blight- 
ed wreck,  as  to  outward  things,  than  were  the  con- 
fused and  undistinguishable  remains  of  those  fair 
Bowers  beneath  their  feet.  Tender  childhood  had 
rarely  survived  the  sweep  of  massacre,  the  toils  and 
terrors  of  the  flight,  and  the  pinching  hunger  that 
wasted  their  half-clad  bodies  in  those  desolate 
hiding-places;  and  few  there  were  of  these:  but 
infants  had  been  born,  even  in  the  dens  and  caves 
to  which  kindred  love  had  contrived  to  bear  the 
mother;  who  now  hushed  in  her  sunken  bosom  the 
feeble  cry  that  might  perchance  arrest  the  attention 
of  some  wandering  foe.  Sorrow,  deep  sorrow,  was 
graven  on  every  countenance  ;  for  they  mourned  the 
vineyard  of  the  Lord,  trampled  down  and  destroyed; 
they  mourned  the  gal 'ant.  fa'rhful  countrymen  and 


154  THE   CA 

fellow-citizens,  who,  though  not  partakers  in  the  lik? 
precious  faith  with  themselves,  had  refused  to  pur- 
chase security  at  the  price  of  their  lives,  and  had 
fallen  in  the  common  defence.  They  mourned  the 
beloved  Raymond  Roger,  of  whom  they  knew  no 
more  than  that  he  was  counted  as  dead,  and  his 
lands  and  honors  grasped  by  de  Montfort,  who  now 
sought  them  also  that  he  might  put  them  to  a  cruel 
death  ;  and  they  mourned  over  Simon  himself,  and 
his  partners  in  crime,  who  were  treasuring  up  for 
themselves  a  harvest  of  eternal  wrath.  Imperfectly 
as  the  Albigenses  were  acquainted  with  those  Scrip- 
tures which  we  possess  in  full,  and  can  search 
throughout,  they  had  not  all  the  encouragement 
that  we,  in  their  circumstances,  should  have  for 
"  rejoicing  in  tribulation ;"  but  they  knew  in  whom 
they  believed  ;  and  most  assured  they  were  that  He 
was  able,  yea,  had  promised,  to  keep  that  which 
they  committed  unto  Him,  to  the  great  day.  Their 
faith,  too,  had  received  a  fearfully  .strong  confirma- 
tion, by  beholding  the  awful  crimes  perpetrated  in 
the  name,  and  for  the  furtherance  of  that  system 
which  they  had  rejected  as  unscriptural  and  unholy  : 
and  as  now  thev  gradually  assembled,  beneath  the 
arch  of  a  somewhat  larger  cavern  than  the  rest  about 
it,  where  the  cold  drip  from  the  roof  sent  a  frequent 
shiver  through  their  emaciated  limbs,  they  freely 
strengthened  each  other  in  their  God,  even  on  the 

O 

very  ground  of  their  terrible  sufferings  in  the  cause 
»f  a  denounced  and  persecuted  °aith 


T»fi  CAVERN.  155 

But  within  this  natural  excavation  was  another, 
formed  by  human  hands.  A  grave  was  dug,  in  the. 
further  and  drier  part,  and  the  soil  heaped  up  beside 
It.  One  who  had  suffered  the  loss  of  all  tilings  for 
Christ,  who  had  seen  his  wife  dragged  away  from 
his  side,  while  he  lay  wounded  and  helpless,  a  fugi- 
tive from  Carcassonne,  and  forced  back  to  the  city 
to  swell  the  company  of  martyrs  there;  while,  one 
by  one»  his  tender  little  ones  perished  on  the  way, 
had  now  himself  been  called  to  enter  into  rest;  and 
with  that  tenderness  towards  the  mortal  remains  of 
a  believer  which  well  becomes  those  who  rightly  un- 
derstand the  doctrine  of  the  resurrection,  his  sur- 
viving brethren  had  resolved  to  bury  him  in  a  se- 
cure place.  For  it  was  a  common  practice  on  the 
part  of  the  warriors  of  the  church  to  rend  from  their 
silent  resting-places  such  as  had  been  br.mded  when 
alive  with  the  stigma  of  heresy  ;  and  to  expose  th<  it 
decaying  remains  to  every  species  of  savage  indig- 
nity. It  therefore  became  an  interesting  duty,  and 
one  of  no  trifling  importance  in  the  sight  of  the  poor 
flock,  to  insure  for  their  departed  brethren  an  undis- 
turbed grave. 

There  was  no  funeral  procession  formed  in  thai 
secluded  valley:  a  few  months  ago,  and  the  body 
now  about  to  be  stealthily  interred  would  have  been 
borne  to  the  tomb  with  many  simple  honors  by  the 
open-hearted  citizens  of  Carcassonne ;  for  he  was 
kncwn  and  respected,  and  had  moved  in  a  rank 
above  the  majority  of  those  openly  professing  the 


156  THE   CAVERf, 

same  faith.  But  here  it  was  different :  the  assembled 
group  looked  anxiously  forth  from  their  hiding-place, 
and  when  they  saw  a  stout  man,  habited  as  a  labor- 
ing peasant,  approaching  with  a  common  sack,  heav- 
ily filled,  upon  his  shoulders,  they  drew  back,  and 
hung  their  heads,  and  wept.  Few  things  could 
more  touchingly  realize  their  outcast,  branded  state, 
than  this  sad  contrast  to  what  had  been,  when  in 
solemn  array  they  were  wont  to  chant  their  funeral 
hymns  beside  the  bier  of  a  departed  brother. 

Gently,  most  gently,  was  the  sack  lowered  from 
its  panting  bearer  to  the  ground;  and  reverendly  did 
many  luuids  assist  to  stretch  the  dead  man's  doubled 
limbs  upon  its  outspread  surface  :  and  to  smooth  his 
ruffled  hair,  and  restore  as  much  as  they  could  of  out- 
ward composure  to  the  body  whose  immortal  spirit 
was  resting  and  rejoicing  before  the  throne  of  the 
Lamb.  This  done,  in  the  dim  twilight  of  the  cavern 
they  formed  a  circle  round  the  corpse,  and  commenced 
their  whispered  discourse,  one  well  versed  in  scrip- 
ture, quoting  the  words,  "  If  in  this  life  only  we  had 
hope  of  Christ,  we  were  of  all  men  most  mise  ruble  !" 
a  touching  appeal  to  the  recent  experience  of  each 
individual  present,  every  one  of  whom  had  under- 
gone such  extremities  of  misery,  in  one  form  or 
another,  that  the  retrospection  would  scarcely  have 
been  endurable  but  for  the  sweet  assurance  that  all 
had  been  encountered  for  Christ's  sake  ;  and  thai 
having  suffered,  they  should  also  vign  with  him. 

"  Ay,"  said  a  woman,  whose  household  had  been 


THE   CAVERN.  151 

slaughtered  in  the  cathedral  of  Btziers,  "but  we 
have  a  better  and  a  brighter  iiope  than  this  world  of 
sorrow  holds  forth  to  us.  Here  we  must  bear  the 
cross :  there,  we  shall  wear  the  crown." 

Another  remarked,  "  The  Lord  Jesus  was  juried 
in  a  cave,  and  a  great  stone  was  rolled  to  the  mouth 
of  the  tomb,  which  a  mighty  angel  moved  away  that 
the  Saviour  might  arise  :  our  dear  brother  also  will 
have  a  cave  for  his  resting-place  ;  but  it  will  need  no 
angel  to  open  his  grave,  for  at  the  first  sound  of  the 
voice  that  awakens  the  dead,  he  will  start,  and  arise, 
and,  like  Lazarus,  come  forth  to  meet  the  Lord." 

A  murmur  of  gladness  ran  through  the  little  band, 
as  one  and  another  repeated,  "  We  shall  all  be  there  : 
— we,  and  those  who  are  gone  before,  and  those 
whom  we  leave  behind.  There  will  be  no  more 
sorrow,  nor  crying :  no  fierce  warriors,  thirsting  for 
blood, — no  unholy  priests  to  profane  the  Name  of 
the  Lord,  as  though  he  had  come  to  destroy  and  not 
to  save  his  believing  people.  There  we  shall  look 
back  on  all  our  sufferings,  and  rejoice  exceedingly 
that  we  were  made  worthy  to  endure  them  for  His 
dear  sake.  Oh  that  they  who  hate  us,  and  pursue 
us  unto  death,  might  have  their  eyes  enlightened 
and  their  hearts  turned  !  Oh  that  the  blood  of  the 
innocent  which  cleaves  to  their  hands  and  to  their 
souls,  might  be  wa>hed  away  by  the  blood  shed 
upon  the  cross."  And  the  prayer  increased  in  fer- 
vency, as,  kneeling  round  the  corpse,  they  con- 
trasted the  happy  lot  of  the  believer  with  the  dread- 
14 


158  THE    CAVERN. 

ful  doom  that  awaits  the  persecutor :  the  wrath  of 
God  revealed  from  heaven  against  the  unrighteous 
and  cruel  man. 

While  thus  thev  pleaded,  and  gave  thanks  to  God 
for  his  rich  mercy  to  themselves,  until  the  very  gate 
of  heaven  seemed  opened  to  their  view,  and  the  real- 
izing eye  of  faith  rested  on  glories  invisible  to  mor- 
tal ken,  a  shadow  darkened  the  mouth  of  the  cav- 
ern, but  no  one  entered.  It  might  have  been  the 
overshadowing  of  a  darker  cloud,  coming  over  the 
mountain's  brow ;  but  its  movement,  now  advan- 
cing, now  retreating,  and  then  suddenly  withdrawn 
altogether,  proved  it  to  be  somewhat  else.  "  We 
are  traced,  or  betrayed,"  whispered  one  of  the  par- 
ty, when  the  prayer  was  concluded,  but  no  farther 
notice  was  taken  ;  and  after  a  while  they  proceeded 
to  the  work  for  which  they  were  assembled,  gently 
drawing  the  lifeless  body  towards  its  shallow  grave, 
when,  suddenly,  the  heavy  tramp  of  many  feet  was 
heard,  and  the  too  well-known  clang  of  armor  re- 
sounded among  the  echoes,  and  voices  stern  and 
hi»'h  commanded  them  to  come  forth  from  their 

O 

hiding-place,  and  surrender  their  arms  to  the  pow- 
ers of  de  Moritfort,  and  the  authority  of  the  Church 

"  We  are  not  armed,"  was  the  quiet  reply  :  "  AVC 
are  met  here  to  worship  the  Lord  our  Saviour,  and 
to  bury  our  dead." 

"  Armed,  or  unarmed,  accursed  heretics  ;  come 
forth !" 

"  Nay,  brethn  n,  wherefore  should  you  shed  inno- 


THE    CAVERN.  159 

cent  blood  ?  We  fear  not,  nor  refuse  to  die,  in  the 
cause  of  our  most  holy  faith  ;  but  we  would  net 
that  you  brought  this  heavy  condemnation  on  your- 
selves, by  slaying  the  helpless  and  the  unoffending. 
We  are  few  in  number  ;  we  are  stripped  of  all 
things  ;  and  what  with  sorrow,  and  toil,  and  cold, 
and  hunger,  the  brief  span  of  our  lives  will  soon  be 
cut  short,  without  involving  you  in  deeper  guilt. 
Leave  us  alone  :  we  were  praying  for  you,  and 
would  fain  see  some  token  that  our  prayers  are  ac- 
cepted." 

A  burst  of  laughter  followed  this  appeal,  and 
several  proposed  to  enter  at  once,  and  silence  them 
forever  ;  but  a  young  knight,  who  had  joined  de 
Montfort  recently,  and  whose  conscience  was  not 
yet  sufficiently  seared  by  the  hot  iron  of  Rome, 
urged  the  proffering  of  terms  to  the  suppliants. 
•'They  are  a  miserable  handful,"  said  he,  "and 
their  feeble  tones  prove  their  bodily  exhaustion. 
Let  them  abjure  their  heresy,  and  swear  fidelity  to 
the  holy  see  ;  and  the  Church  will  gain  more  than 
by  destroying  them." 

"  Oh,  by  all  means,"  said  a  veteran  crusader,  jeer- 
ingly  :  "  give  them  the  opportunity  of  vaunting  their 
steadfastness  in  rebellion  and  apostasy,  and  so  invest 
them  with  the  dignity  of  martyrs  !" 

But  the  young  knight,  who  commanded  the  party. 

r  advanced  to  the  very  entrance  of  the  cavern,  ana 

loudly  said,   "  Unhappy   wanderers   from   the  only 

true  fold,  will  you  renounce  your  deadly  heresies, 


160  THE   CAVER!*. 

humble  yourselves  at  the  footstool  <f  holy  Church, 
submit  to  the  penances  that  your  crimes  have  incur, 
red,  and  henceforth  serve  her,  in  dutiful  submission 
to  the  righteous  will  of  our  sovereign  pontiff,  the 
holy  father  Innocent,  and  his  pious  legate,  our  lord 
Arnold  Amalric  ?" 

"  We  will  renounce  whatever  in  our  faith  and 
practice  can  be  proved  contrary  to  the  will  of  God, 
revealed  to  man  in  the  blessed  Scriptures  :  and  we 
will  submit  to  the  Church  in  all  particulars  wherein 
it  can  be  shown  that  she  walks  according  to  the 
same  rule.  For  the  rest,  we  know  what  will  come 
upon  us.  Then  welcome  death  !  welcome  glory  ev- 
erlasting in  the  bosom  of  our  God  !" 

A  shout  of  rage  and  execration,  a  rush  into  the 
little  cavern,  and  the  gleam  of  many  weapons  flash- 
ing through  its  gloom,  finished  the  tragedy.  The 
grave,  with  pious  care  dug  for  one  believer,  was 
filled  up,  and  concealed  by  a  pile  of  slaughtered 
bodies,  all  of  whom  fell  unresistingly  beneath  the 
murderer's  hand.  A  rivulet  of  crimson  hue  tric- 
kled slowly  from  the  opening,  as  the  perpetrators  of 
this  butchery  retreated  ;  and  having  shown  itself,  a 
fearful  testimony  against  their  souls,  it  sank  into  the 
humid  soil,  and  was  hidden  till  the  great  and  dread- 
ful day  when  earth  shall  disclose  all  her  slain  ;  and 
terrible  then  will  be  the  revelation  of  what  apostate 
^ome  hath  wrought !  . 

It  was  bj  means  si  ch  as  we  have  described,  pur- 
suing, an/i  with  -rafty  perseverance  marking  out 


THt    CAVERZX.  161 

the  fugitive  prey,  that  Simon  de  Montfort  CArricd 
out  the  plan  of  the  pontiff,  who  i.imed  at  no  less 
than  the  utter  destruction  of  every  individual  who 
had  imbibed  the  slightest  notions  of  liberty  of  con- 
Kcie.nce  ;  or  learned  that  there  was  a  standard  by 
which  the  Church,  every  Church,  must  be  tried, 
He  could  not  have  employed  a  fitter  instrument,  for 
de  Montfort  was  naturally  most  cruel  ;  and  po>ver 
gained  by  fair  means  would  have  been  a  prize  of 
litile  value  in  his  sight,  ambitious  as  he  was.  The 
recital  of  such  a  massacre  as  we  have  described, 
would  kindle  up  a  light  in  his  gloomy  eye  ;  and  af- 
fording him  a  new  plea  of  special  merit  at  the  Vati- 
can, it  strengthened  farther  his  hold  on  the  fair  pro 
vince  that  became  more  emphatically  his  in  propor 
tion  as  it  was  laid  desolate,  and  saturated  with  blood. 
At  present,  this  man  was  the  sole  link  connecting 
Jie  successful  past  with  the  anticipated  future,  for 
which  active  preparations  were  being  ma-de  through- 
out Europe,  by  means  as  disgraceful  to  the  name  of 
Christianity  as  could  be  imagined. 

The  monks  of  Citeaux,  who  most  fully  merit  the 
distinguishing  title  of  the  blood-hounds  of  the  church, 
had  issued  in  swarms  from  their  cells,  or  rather  from 
(heir  cloisters  and  refectories,  and  had  spread  them- 
selves in  every  direction,  occupying  the  pulpits  of 
all  nations,  and  preaching  up  a  new  crusade  against 
the  Albigenses,  as  though  there  were  no  possible 
access  to  heaven  but  through  the  blood  of  these  in 
nocent  victims.  With  the  eloquence  and  power  of 
14* 


162  THE   CAVEKN. 

demoniacs  these  cowled  recruiting  officers  set  forth 
the  benefits  to  he  derived,  here  and  hereafter,  by 
bearing  a  hand  in  the  work  of  slaughter  ;  and  as 
those  whom  they  addressed  were,  cilas  !  equally  un- 
der the  power  of  the  god  of  this  world  with  them- 
selves, their  appeal  was  extensively  responded  to, 
and  their  success  prodigious.  They  never  preached 
in  vain :  the  doctrine  was  too  pleasingly  accordant 
with  the  worst  corruptions  of  the  natural  heart,  and 
the  prize  set  before  their  hearers  was  too  tempting, 
both  in  its  temporal  and  spiritual  aspect,  to  admit  of 
opposition.  Under  their  unprincipled  guidance,  a 
band  was  being  organized  wherever  the  Romish  see 
had  a  footing,  and  it  seemed  problematical  whether 
the  devoted  land  of  Provence,  with  all  its  neighbor- 
ing districts  where  heresy  was  suspected,  would  be 
sufficient  for  such  a  host  to  swallow  up.  The  monks 
were  perfectly  content  to  anticipate  such  mutual 
slaughter  as  should  thin  the  multitude  to  a  number 
suited  to  the  extent  of  country :  and  more  than  con- 
tent, if  we  may  judge  from  their  language  and  pro- 
ceedings  in  urging  on  the  terrible  conflict. 

It  is  utterly  impossible  to  conceive  what  could 
animate  tlu-se  men  to  such  a  work,  unless  we  attrib- 
ute it  to  direct  Satanic  influence.  They  knew  the 
land  ;  they  knew  it  in  its  days  of  peace  and  plenty, 
of  security,  and  elegance,  and  ease.  They  knew 
that  the  victims  there,  for  whose  blood  they  were 
athirst,  were  alike  free  from  a  turbulent  spirit,  and 
from  the  vices  that  eertainly  prevailed  among  the 


THE   CAVEBTV.  163 

voluptuous  lords  under  whose  sway  they  lived  un« 
molested  ;  and  that  even  in  their  religious  observ- 
ances they  shunned  all  ostentatious  display  of  their 
dissent  from  Romish  practices,  and  worshipped  un- 
obtrusively, according  to  their  conscience.  It  is  a 
terrible  spectacle  of  human  depravity,  this  mission 
of  the  preachers  from  Citeaux.  In  all  ages  we  find 
him  that  is  born  after  the  flesh  persecuting  him  that 
is  born  after  the  spirit ;  and  a  Cain  always  hating 
an  Abel,  because  his  own  works  are  evil  and  his 
brother's  righteous  ;  but  this  was  more  ;  this  was  a 
flood  poured  out  from  the  dragon's  own  mouth,  to 
overwhelm  and  destroy  the  only  true  Church  of  God. 
Too  successful  were  the  efforts  of  the  monks  of 
Citeaux.  They  speedily  gathered  together  a  fresh 
band  of  maddened  enthusiasts,  whom  they  had  in- 
duced so  implicitly  to  believe  their  audacious  asser- 
tions, that  probably  not  one  among  them  entertained 
a  doubt  of  being  at  once  made  clean  from  all  his  past 
offences,  and  licensed  to  a  new  life  of  unblushing  in- 

O 

iquity,  with  the  positive  certainty  of  gaining  heaven 
at  last,  at  the  easy  price  of  marching  for  forty  days 
through  a  country  already  conquered  and  desolated, 
and  putting  to  death  a  few  poor  straggling  fugitives, 
to  be  dragged  from  their  places  of  concealment. 
Such  was  the  aspect  of  the  war  in  which  the  second 
crusading  army  engaged  ;  for  it  was  not  until  they 
were  on  their  way  to  join  his  standard  that  any  thing 
like  a  reverse  seemed  to  menace  de  Montfort ;  nor 
was  the  discoui  igement  occasioned  by  a  momentary 


*04  THE   CAVERN. 

check  sufficient  to  damp  the  ardor  of  that  fearlesa 
fanatic.  Either  through  policy  or  some  personal 
good  will,  the  Pope  had  listened  with  favor  to  Ray. 
mond  of  Toulouse,  when  pleading  his  own  cause  in 
the  Vatican  ;  and  it  cost  the  legate  no  small  tiou- 
ble,  eagerly  as  his  efforts  were  seconded  by  the 
fierce  Bishop  Foulquet,  to  render  nugatory  the  ad- 
vantages supposed  to  be  gained  by  that  unhappy 
nobleman.  Meanwhile  the  king  of  Arrno-on  had 

o  o 

broken  off  all  negotiation  with  de  Montfort,  declar- 
ing his  hostile  feelings  so  plainly  as  to  infuse  new 
courage  into  the  surrounding  lords  of  the  conquered 
provinces.  They  combined  in  a  general  revolt,  and 
proved  so  successful  in  repelling  the  usurper  that, 
at  the  end  of  a  few  months,  the  two  hundred  cities 
and  fortified  places  in  the  hands  of  Simon  were  re- 
duced to  eight. 

Most  welcome,  therefore,  was  the  succor  supplied 
by  the  efforts  of  the  preaching  monks  of  Citeaux  ; 
and  most  appropriately  was  it  headed  :  for  these 
troops,  enlisted  for  the  express  purpose  of  wholesale, 
indiscriminate  massacre,  by  the  exhortations  of 
priests,  were  led  to  the  scene  of  their  cruel  exploits 
by  a  woman.  Alice  de  Montmorency,  the  wife  of 
de  Montfort,  headed  the  fresh  host  whose  approach 
gladdened  the  heart  of  her  husband :  and  thus  was 
the  frightful  anomaly  completed. 

And  now  was  the  flood  indeed  poured  forth  :u 
that  devoted  land  ;  now,  indeed,  war,  in  its  fiercest, 
fellest  aspect,  raged  against  the  saints  of  God,  and 


THE   CAVERN.  165 

against  nil  who  conspired  to  shelter  them,  and  all 
who  hesitated  to  drag  them  forth  to  slaughter. 
Again  must  we  repeat  that  the  details  are  those,  and 
thobc  alone,  left  on  record  by  the  companions,  the 
eulogists  of  the  aggressors;  and  therefore  only  are 
they  credible :  not  so  much  from  the  trustworthy 
character  of  the  witnesses,  as  because  the  exulting 
tone  of  joy  and  thankfulness  in  which  they  are  nar- 
rated, exhibits  a  spirit  of  murderous  bigotry  suffi- 
cient to  account  for  the  perpetration  of  what  it  were 
else  incredible  that  man  should  have  committed 
against  his  peaceful,  unoffending  brother  man. 

De  Montfort  cast  his  mental  eye  over  the  wide 
territory ;  and  being  well  informed  as  to  the  num- 
ber, position  and  strength  of  the  fortresses  which  he 
had  to  reconquer,  and  those  still  remaining  to  be  re- 
duced, he  placed  himself  at  the  head  of  his  impa- 
tient levies,  and  commenced  the  fierce  campaign. 
One  after  another  he  attacked  the  castles  on  his 
route,  and  having,  by  the  impetuosity  of  the  assault, 
the  terror  that  his  name  inspired,  and  the  mysteri- 
ous permission  of  Him  who  thus  for  a  time  delivered 
over  his  poor  flock  into  the  hands  of  the  merciless, 
carried  the  place,  he  dragged  forth  the  remaining 
inhabitants,  hanged  them  on  gibbets  in  the  most 
conspicuous  spots,  dismantled  or  burned  the  fortress, 
unless  it  was  sufficiently  important  to  justify  his 
leaving  a  garrison  there,  and  marched  on  tc  the 
next  post.  In  this  way  hd  scoured  the  country  with 
wonderful  rapidity ;  and  when,  trusting  in  then 


(66  THE 

righteous  cause,  or  rendered  confidt  a<  t  by  the  streflgth 
of  their  bulwarks,  the  defenders  of  any  place  pro* 
tracted  their  resistance,  he  revenged  himself  for  thf! 
temporary  delay  by  the  most  horrible  cruel  ties. 
Thus,  Broin,  having  a  very  strong  castle,  occupied 
him  three  days  in  reducing  it ;  and  no  sooner  had 
he  captured  it  than  he  selected  upwards  of  an  bun* 
dred  of  the  inhabitants,  whose  eyes,  with  ferocious 
barbarity,  he  tore  out,  cut  off  their  noses,  and  hav- 
ing left  a  single  individual  with  one  eye  uninjured, 
he  commanded  him  to  use  his  sight  to  guide  the 
wretched  company  of  bleeding  sufferers  to  the  next 
fortress,  Cabaret,  so  to  apprize  its  garrison  of  what 
they  must  expect  if  they  dared  to  oppose  his  prog- 
ress. Death  by  strangulation  on  the  gallows,  or  by 
a  blazing  pile,  was  surely  preferable  to  tortures  such 
as  these,  with  the  prospect  of  miserably  perishing  in 
lingering  helplessness  :  and  thus  the  Church's  cham- 
pion calculated  on  immolating  her  victims  at  a  less 
expense  of  time  and  trouble  and  possible  loss  of  life 
to  his  own  host.  The  castle  of  Alaric,  however, 
proved  a  great  hindrance,  and  a  severe  disappoint- 
ment too:  it  held  out  for  eleven  days,  defying  his 

f       '  *  O 

utmost  efforts ;  and  when  at  length  the  place  was 
carried,  and  imagination  already  revelled  in  the 
blood  of  the  audacious  defenders,  thev  were  found 
to  have  made  good  a  retreat  that  phced  them  be* 
yond  his  grasp.  Only  a  small  remnant  remained  foi 
de  Montfort  to  massacre.  Beyond  this,  he  passed 
Unobstructed  for  many  leagues  :  not  a  castle  but  bad 


THE   CAVERN.  167 

* 

been  deserted,  leaving  little  more  than  empty  walla 
to  reward  the  plunderers'  search.  Still  the  poor 
blood-stained  country  smiled  in  the  beauty  of  its 
rich  fertility :  vineyards  mantled  the  hills,  and  the 
1 1  ecious  olive  bore  its  wonted  freight :  in  the  ab- 
sence of  human  victims,  here  was  a  field  for  wanton 
devastation ;  and  the  soldiers  of  the  cross  were  dis- 
persed on  all  sides,  rending  up  by  the  roots  those 
beauteous  vines,  and  hewing  down  with  their  gory 
weapons  the  ancient  olives,  that  promised  to  supply 
many  a  succeeding  generation.  This  was  accepta- 
ble work  to  the  master  whom  they  and  their  leader 
alike  served ;  the  Spirit  who  evermore  works  in  the 
children  of  disobedience,  prompting  rebellion  where- 
soever God  has  given  a  command.  We  find  a  gra- 
cious and  merciful  prohibition  recorded  in  scripture, 
"When  thou  shalt  besiege  a  city -a  long  time,  in 
making  Avar  against  it  to  take  it,  thou  shalt  not  de- 
stroy the  trees  thereof  by  forcing  an  axe  against 
them  ;  for  thou  mayest  eat  of  them,  and  thou  shalt 
not  cut  them  down  (for  the  tree  of  the  field  is  man'a 
life)  to  employ  them  in  the  siege :  only  the  trees 
which  thou  knowest  that  they  be  not  trees  for  meat, 
thou  shalt  destroy  and  cut  them  down."  Deut.  xx. 
19,  20. 

Here  we  have  the  case  of  a  people  actually  sent 

forth  by  the  Lord  to  execute  his  judgments  on  the 

idolatrous  and  cruel  heathens,  requiring   wood  for 

•  the  necessary  operations   of   a   siege,   yet    strictly 

prohibited  from  supplying   their  n<?ed  by    the  de- 


168  THE   CAVEUN. 

• 

struetion  of  a  single  fruit-tree,  even  in  an  enemy's 
country,  because  "  the  tree  of  the  field  is  man's  life  :" 
how  dreadful,  then,  is  the  spectacle  of  a  body  of 
men  professing  the  religion  of  the  Bible,  employed 
in  destroying  the  whole  rich  produce  of  a  country, 
not  to  aid  their  hostile  operations,  not  to  supply  their 
own  present  necessities,  but  simply  and  avowedly 
for  the  very  reason  assigned  by  the  .Most  High 
Rgainst  such  an  act,  because  "  the  tree  of  the  field 
is  man's  life."  and  some  famishing  wanderers  might 
find  the  table  spread  by  God's  hand  in  the  wilder- 
ness to  support  the  life  which  He  gave.  Such  deeds 
have  been  done  even  in  our  day,  and  by  men  nomi- 
nally protesting  against  the  crimes  of  Rome  :  but  it 
is  an  awful  thing  thus  to  make  light  of  what  the 
Lord  our  God  hath  commanded  ;  and  the  Evil  One 
who  exulted  in  every  step  of  de  Montfort's  terrible 
career,  is  the  leader  in  all  such  enterprises  of  cruelty 
and  wrontr- 

O 

We  now  arrive  at  a  point  in  the  narrative  on 
which  the  monk  Peter  has  dwelt  with  more  enthu- 
siastic delight,  than  even  on  what  he  calls  the 
"miracle"  that  delivered  up  the  innocent  victims  of 
Beziers  to  the  knife.  Near  Narbonne,  perched  on  a 
lofty  rock,  and  surrounded  on  all  sides  by  such  prec- 
ipices as  rendered  it  seemingly  inaccessible,  stood 
the  magnificent  castle  of  Minerva,  or  Menerbe,  famed 

o 

no  less  for  its  natural  strength  than  for  the  courage 
and  fidelity  of  its  lord,  Giraud,  one  of  the  bravest 
and  most  loyal  knights  owning  fealty  to  the  visiount 


THE    CAVERN.  169 

of  Carcassonne.  To  Raymond  Roger  he  had  been 
ardently  attached  ;  and  now  that  the  grave  had 
closed  over  that  champion  of  the  oppressed,  Giraud 
indignantly  rejected  the  assumed  authority  of  his 
murderer,  and  held  the  castle  as  a  duteous  vassal  of 
Raymond  Trencavel,  the  infant  son  of  the  viscount, 
and  lawful  inheritor  of  his  possessions.  The  faith 
of  the  Gospel  was,  perhaps,  more  extensively  and 
openly  professed  here  than  in  any  place  that  de 
Montfort  had  yet  assailed ;  and  the  prize  was,  in 
every  point  of  view,  a  most  tempting  one,  alike  to 
priest  and  warrior.  The  siege  was  commenced  with 
vigor,  and  seven  weeks  of  unsuccessful  assault  had 
not  abated  either  the  fury  of  the  crusaders  or  the 
constancy  of  the  garrison ;  but  that  which  in  one 
aspect  formed  their  greatest  strength,  in  another 
proved  the  worst  disadvantage  of  the  besieged. 
Their  rock  repelled  the  enemy  ;  but  it  yielded  no 
water-spring  to  them ;  their  sole  dependence  was 
on  cisterns,  which  at  length  failed  them  ;  and  Gi- 
raud under  a  flag  of  truce  proceeded  to  the  camp  to 
treat  on  the  best  terms  that  he  could  for  capitula- 
tion. De  Montfort,  dreading  the  diminution  of  his 
host,  from  which  at  the  end  of  every  forty  days 
many  withdrew,  while  he  depended  solely  on  the  re- 
cruiting brothers  of  Citeaux  for  adequate  supplies  in 
their  room,  and  exceedingly  anxious  to  proceed  on 
his  march,  granted  terms  that  satisfied  Giraud ;  and 
the  latter  was  about  to  make  preparations  for  sur- 
rendering, when  the  legate,  who  had  been  absent 
J5 


170  THE    CAVERN. 

during  1  he  treaty,  suddenly  returned  to  the  camp; 
and  de  Montfort,  alarmed  by  his  own  boldness,  no 
less  suddenly  announced  that  nothing  agreed  upon 
during  the  absence  of  the  legate  could  be  binding 
until  ratified  by  him.  We  cannot  but  cite  the  lan- 
guage of  the  monl?  Peter,  in  describing  the  (rouble 
of  Arnold  on  being  thus  appealed  to  for  the  approval 
of  conditions  comparatively  just  and  rational.  "  The 
abbot  was  much  afflicted.  In  truth  it  was  his  desire 
that  every  enemy  of  Christ  should  be  slain  ;  but  in 
his  character  of  monk  and  priest  he  could  not  under- 
take to  pronounce  their  condemnation  himself." 
Here  we  see,  most  clearly,  the  use  to  which  the 
Romish  Church  puts  its  miserable  slaves ;  among 
whom  were  then  numbered  most  of  the  kings  and 
mighty  men  of  Christendom.  With  the  full  devel- 
opments of  the  dragon's  character  upon  it,  still  as  a 
nominally  religious  system  it  is  compelled  to  assume 
the  lamblike  aspect  that  prevents  its  tearing  with  its 
own  teeth  the  prey  set  apart  for  destruction.  Won- 
derful and  fearful  is  the  craft  which,  to  meet  the 
difficulty,  has  brought  such  troops  of  wolves  into 
perfect  subjection ;  so  that  on  a  signal  they  obey, 
(and  count  it  meritorious  obedience  too,)  no  less 
their  own  carnivorous  propensities  than  the  will  of 
their  masked  director  ! 

Arnold  Almaric  immediately  hit  on  a  device  for 
the  attainment  of  his  object.  Knowing  that  the 
agreement  entered  into  between  the  chiefs  was  as 
yet  only  verbal  he  directed  them  to  sit  dowr  ipait, 


THE   CAVERN.  171 

and  each  10  furnish  him  with  a  correct  Britten  state- 
ment of  every  item  in  it.  Of  course,  without  a 
miracle,  some  discrepancy  would  appear;  and  on 
this  the  unprincipled  legate  founded  a  pretext  for 
declaring  the  whole  agreement  void,  seeing  that  they 
were  not  fully  of  the  same  mind  as  to  the  terms. 
Giraud,  anxious  to  succor  his  people,  now  suffering 
from  the  extremity  of  thirst,  offered  to  waive  his 
own  version,  and  to  accept  that  of  de  Montfort ;  and 
this  again  brought  the  council  of  war  to  a  stand, 
The  articles  of  capitulation,  as  stated  by  Simon, 
were  read  ;  and,  here  another  instance  occurred  of 
the  deadly  spirit  animating  the  breasts  of  those  who 
assumed  the  spiritual  leadership  of  men's  consciences, 
as  a  sure  means  of  commanding  their  unlimited  sub- 

O 

mission  in  things  temporal ;  and  of  the  utter  oppo- 
sition of  that  spirit  to  every  thing  that  savors  of  the 
Gospel  of  peace.  The  incident  is  related  by  the 
monk  of  Vaux-Cernay,  with  admiring  approval  of  the 
holy  zeal  manifested.  When  that  article  was  read 
which  provided  for  the  safety  of  any  of  the  Albi- 
gensic  professors  who  should  renounce  their  faith,  a 
French  nobleman,  Robert  de  Mauvaison,  mindful  of 
the  terms  on  which  his  salvation  was  guaranteed  by 
the  church,  exclaimed  that  the  pilgrims  would  never 
consent  to  such  a  clause ;  for  they  had  taken  the 
cross,  not  to  show  mercy  to  heretics,  but  to  exter- 
minate them.  He  spoke,  no  doubt,  the  real  feeling 
of  the  whole  host ;  but  one  which  it  might  be  sup- 
posed the  ecclesiastical  leaders  would,  for  decency's 


172  THE    CAVERX. 

sake,  have  appeared  to  disavow.  Far  from  it:  thfl 
legate  Arnold,  immediately  soothed  the  indignant 
knight,  not  by  representing  to  him  the  blessedness 
of  bringing  wanderers  back  to  the  fold  ;  not  by  re- 
minding him  that  our  Lord  has  pronounced,  "  Bles- 
sed are  the  merciful,"  but  by  bidding  him  not  fear ; 
for  he  was  satisfied  that  very  few  of  the  heretics 
would  be  converted  !  This  tacit  approval  on  Ar- 
nold's part  of  the  agreement,  together  with  the  com- 
fortable hope  which  it  held  out  of  no  limit  being 
placed  on  the  work  of  blood,  decided  the  matter : 
the  articles  were  signed  ;  and  with  a  heavy  heart  the 
gallant  Giraud  delivered  up  his  fortress  to  those  who 
thirsted  for  the  slaughter  of  its  defenders.  They 
entered  with  great  solemnity,  preceded  by  the  cross 
and  the  banners  of  de  Montfort ;  while  the  whole 
army,  led  by  the  priestly  choir  who  in  full  canonical 
pomp  formed  their  vanguard,  chanted  in  grand  and 
overwhelming  chorus  the  magnificent  Te  Dctim, 
every  sublime  verse  of  which  speaks  condemnation 
to  those  who  could  so  fearfully  misapply  the  lan- 
guage of  believing  prayer  and  praise.  Alas  for 
those,  the  light  within  whom  is  darkness  !  how  great, 
how  awfully  great  is  that  darkness  ! 

Meanwhile,  the  servants  of  the  Lord,  who  had  in- 
deed tasted  the  redemption  afforded  by  his  most 
precious  blood,  and  who  knew  that  their  happy  lot 
was  to  be  numbered  with  his  saints  in  glory  ever- 
lasting, abundantly  verified  the  prediction  of  the 
cruel  legate  N"ot  one  among  them  entertained  a 


THE    OAVRRN.  173 

thought  of  renouncing  the  faith  of  their  Redeemer. 
Calm  and  cheerful  in  the  assured  hope  of  meeting 
again  ere  night  should  have  closed  upon  the  earth, 
in  that  happy  place  where  night  never  comes,  hus- 
bands embraced  their  wives,  fathers  their  daughters, 
sons  their  aged  mothers,  and  brothers  their  bloom- 
ing sisters,  and  parted;  the  males  repaired  to  one 
large  mansion,  the  females  to  another;  and  thus 
self-accused  of  their  denounced  faith,  voluntarily 
separated  from  their  sympathizing  fellow-townsmen, 
prepared  as  sheep  to  the  slaughter,  they  kneeled 
down  confessing  their  sins  to  the  Most  High,  plead- 
ing the  all-prevailing  merits  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
and,  with  fervent  thanksgiving  for  having^  been 

O  O  O 

brought  to  the  saving  knowledge  of  Him  who  of 
God  was  made  to  them  wisdom,  righteousness,  sancti- 
fication  and  redemption,  they  besought  the  grace  that 
alone  could  keep  them  steadfast,  immovable,  faithful 
unto  death,  and  meet  for  the  crown  of  everlasting  life. 

O 

And  now  the  heavy  tramp,  the  loud  clang  of 
mailed  hosts,  almost  drowned  in  the  thundering 
hymn  of  such  praise  as  must  be  an  abomination  to 
the  holy  and  merciful  One,  whose  Name  they  dared 
so  to  blaspheme,  bespoke  the  approach  of  the  drag- 
on's progeny.  First  of  the  motley  band  of  assail- 
ants, came  the  Abbot  Guy  de  Vaux  Cernay,  still 
active  in  the  fulfilment  of  that  mission  which  he  un- 
dertook in  the  recesses  of  the  Vatican  seventeen 
years  before.  He  appeared  as  a  preacher  of  the 
faith  to  men  who  had  fallen  into  "  damnable  here- 
15* 


174  THE    CAVKUN. 

sies,"  and  commenced  the  formal  exhortation  which 
the  terms  of  the  capitulation  rendered  necessary, 
thundering  forth  the  terrors  of  the  church's  ban  on 
all  who  dared  to  dispute  her  supremacy,  and  requir- 
ing an  instant  recantation  of  what  the  Albigenses 
held  to  be,  as  indeed  it  was,  the  dootrine  of  eternal 
life.  He  was  not  allowed  to  proceed  far  in  his  ser- 
mon :  a  general  cry  burst  from  the  indignant  hear- 
ers, who  felt  that  he  was  speaking  blasphemy  against 
the  holy  Name  whcreb}r  they  were  called;  "We 
will  have  none  of  your  faitli :  we  have  renounced  the 
doctrines  of  your  Roman  Church.  You  labor  in 
vain  to  move  us  from  the  truth  which  we  have  em- 
braced, and  from  which  nothing  either  in  life  or  in 
death  can  move  us."  Satisfied  that  no  victims  would 
escape  from  among  these  devoted  believers,  Guy 
left  them,  and  proceeded  to  the  house  where  the  fe- 
males were  in  lil<e  manner  awaiting  their  fate  ;  and 
here  he  was  even  more  quickly  and  resolutely  cut 
short  in  his  discourse:  they  would  not  hear  him  : 
they  were  full  of  hope  and  joy,  and  eager  to  lay  down 
their  lives  for  the  Gospel.  While  this  was  going  on, 
de  Montfort,  fully  partaking  in  the  legate's  assurance, 
collected  an  immense  quantity  of  firewood,  piling  it 
in  the  most  open  space  of  the  town.  He  then  visited 
in  turn  the  two  assemblies,  addressing  them  more 
briefly  than  the  Abbot  had  done,  in  words  that  could 
no  be  misunderstood.  He  pointed  to  the  heap  of 
dry  faggots,  on  which  it  was  counted  a  sacred  priv- 
ilege for  the  noblest  of  the  land  to  east  an  addi« 


TO£    CAVERN.  175 

.ional  stick,  and  in  his  usual  dark,  stern  manner 
said,  '  Be  converted  to  the  Catholic  faith,  or  ascend 
this  pile."  Not  one  among  his  hearers  flinched,  or 
quailed,  or  gave  token  of  a  hesitating  thought ;  fire 
was  applied  to  the  heap,  and  a  mighty  conflagration 
blazed  up  to  heaven.  Then  might  be  seen  the  eager 
rush  of  armed  men,  each  hoping  to  seize  some  help- 
less victim,  and  to  propitiate  GOD,  yea  even  our  own 
GOD,  by  casting  the  struggling  form  of  decrepit  age, 
or  blooming  youth,  or  terrified  childhood  into  the 
burning  gulf — but  most  of  them  were  disappointed 
in  the  hope ;  for  with  light  step  all  who  could  do 
no  glided  by,  and  cast  themselves  into  the  fire  as 
into  a  glorious  chariot  provided  to  bear  them  tc 
their  bright  and  blessed  home.  With  loud  voices 
they  commended  their  souls  to  Him  for  whom  they 
counted  it  all  joy  to  suffer  this  terrible  martyrdom 
and  thus  did  a  hundred  and  forty  human  bodies 
perish  from  the  sight  of  man,  in  a  single  pile  of  fire, 
kindled  from  the  materials  of  their  own  peaceful 
homes.  Yet  three  were  left  of  the  women :  while 
on  their  way  to  the  fire,  a  noble  lady,  mother  of  the 
lord  of  Montmorenci,  had  them  forcibly  arrested, 
and  held  as  lookers-on  upon  a  scene,  the  horrors  of 
which  were  sufficient  to  deprive  them  of  reason ; 
while  a  forced  or  an  unconscious  assent  to  what  was 
demanded,  enrolled  them  in  the  list  of  apostates, 
from  which,  and  not  from  the  book  of  life,  we  must 
fervently  hope  that  their  names  were  subsequently 
Hotted  out :  for  those  were  days  when  the  word  of 


176  THE    CAVERN. 

our  Lord  was  fulfilled  to  the  uttermost  extent  of  its 
Hvvfui  import ;  "  He  that  findeth  his  life  shall  losa  it ; 
and  he  that  loseth  his  life  for  my  sa«Le  shall  find  it." 

Such  was  the  termination  of  the  seven  weeks' 
siege,  which  had  doubtless  been  protracted  to  ripen 
many  souls  for  glory.  The  smouldering  fires  died 
away,  and  the  undistinguishable  ashes  of  what  had 
but  an  hour  before  been  vigorous  with  life,  and 
bright  in  beauty,  were  borne  on  the  winds  of  hea- 
ven to  be  seen  no  more.  The  spirits,  set  free  from 
mortal  fetters,  went  to  the  presence  of  their  re- 
deeming God,  there  to  meet  and  to  rejoice  with  the 
multitude  who  had,  like  themselves,  come  out  of 
great  tribulation,  with  robes  washed  white,  not  in 
their  own  innocency,  but  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb; 
with  them  to  anticipate  the  day  of  reunion  with 
their  purified  bodies,  changed  by  the  power  of  ele- 
mental fire  into  imperceptible  dust :  again  to  be 
changed  into  the  likeness  of  Christ's  glorious  body, 
according  to  that  mighty  working,  whereby  He  is 
able  to  subdue  even  all  things  to  himself.  We  la- 
ment now  their  past  sufferings  ;  we  rejoice  in  their 
present  happiness  :  ere  long  we  shall  see  them,  a 
magnificent  army  of  glorified  saints,  descending  with 
their  Lord  to  experience  the  literal  fulfilment  of  a 
too-much  neglected  promise,  "  The  meek  shall 
inherit  the  earth." 

The  angels  of  God  having  borne  his  slaughtered 
ones  to  His  bosom,  the  spirits  of  darkness  brooded 
still  over  their  wretched  prey,  who  watched  with 


THE    CAVERN.  177 

horrible  satisfaction  the  crumbling  away  of  each 
human  cinder  into  dust,  and  raised  again  the  mock- 
ing hymn  of  praise,  and  looked  forward  to  the  mor- 
row's march  that  should  conduct  them  to  new  vic- 
tims. And  is  this,  again  we  ask  with  solemn  ear- 
nestness, ns  in  the  presence  of  God,  Is  this  Chris- 
tianity ?  We  know  no  one,  scarcely  even  among 
the  adherents  of  Rome  in  our  day,  who  would  dare 
to  answer — Yes.  They  disown  such  deeds,  as  form- 
ing any  part  of  their  religious  system,  attributing 
them  solely  to  the  spirit  of  the  barbarous  age  in 
which  they  were  perpetrated  :  yet  examine  a  little 
farther,  and  it  will  be  found  that,  of  this,  the  mid- 
dle ages  as  it  is  called,  not  only  Romanists,  but 
some  who  believe  themselves  to  be  Protestants, 
habitually  speak  as  of  the  most  glorious  era  of  the 
Church !  There  is  a  net  of  deadly  texture  fast 
closing  around  us,  and  it  behooves  us  narrowly  to 
examine  the  subtle  meshes  as  they  come  in  view. 
The  crusades  were  a  legitimate  carrying  out,  by  a 
party  then  powerful  enough  to  do  its  bidding,  of 
the  unchanged  principles,  the  consistent  doctrines, 
and  of  the  now  existing  laws  of  the  papacy.  As 
we  proceed,  this  may  become  more  apparent ;  but  it 
is  a  fact,  the  overlooking  of  which  is  at  this  moment 
hurrying  on  a  crisis  that  man  cannot,  perhaps,  avert 
but  for  which  the  Church  of  Christ  must  be  pre- 
pared, by  arming  themselves  with  the  like  mind  as 
their  suffering  Master  ;  and  as  their  b~e;hren  who  of 
old  wore  slain,  u»  many  more  will  b«. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE    LADY    OF    LAVAUR. 

THE  unsparing  cruelty  of  the  crusaders,  their  bar- 
barous massacre,  by  the  most  painful  and  ignomini- 
ous deaths,  of  such  as  were  compelled  to  surrender  to 
them  ;  and  the  tortures  that  sometimes,  as  in  the  case 
of  the  inhabitants  of  Brom,  the  victims  were  left  to 
linger  under,  all  combined,  with  the  consciousness 
of  a  just  and  holy  cause,  to  nerve  the  hands  of  those 
who  held  the  strong  castle  of  Termes,  a  powerful 
frontier  fortress  on  the  borders  of  Roussillon.  This 
was  the  next  point  of  attack  in  the  order  of  march 
laid  down  for  the  great  locust  army,  whose  glory  it 
was  to  turn  the  comparative  Eden  of  a  most  lovely 
and  smiling  country  into  a  waste  howling  wilderness, 
defiled  by  blood,  and  deformed  by  every  species  of 
savage  outrage. 

Raymond  of  Termes  was  a  warrior  no  less  brave 
than  Giraud  of  Minerve  ;  and  warned  by  the  fate  of 
that  noble,  he  proved  more  inflexible,  rejecting  every 
proposal  for  capitulation,  even  when  the  periodical 
diminution  of  Simon's  army  rendered  him  desirous 
of  cb taining  possession  on  terms  really  favorable  to 


THE    LADY   OF    LAVAUR.  179 

the  besieged.  The  latter  had  witnessed  too  many 
recent  instances  of  the  measure  of  faith  that  Rome 
keeps  with  those  whom  she  calls  heretics,  to  believe 
that  any  thing  better  than  a  snare  could  lurk  be- 
neath the  fairest  proffers  of  her  emissaries.  Termes, 
therefore,  held  out  for  four  months,  baffling  every 
device,  repulsing  every  attack,  and  rejecting  every 
offer  of  the  enemy.  During  this  period  the  army 
underwent  the  usual  mutations  ;  large  bodies  of 
men,  who  had  already  satiated  their  cruelty  and  ra- 
pine on  Minerve,  dispersed  from  before  the  Avails  of 
Termes,  on  the  expiration  of  their  forty  days,  to  lay 
uppn  the  idol-shrines  of  their  false  worship  the 
blood-stained  trophies  won  in  this  unholy  war. 
Their  places  were  supplied  by  others,  from  the  still 
unexhausted  masses  of  fanaticism  in  France,  from 
Germany,  from  England,  and  many  other  places 
where  the  preaching  friars  were  displaying  new 
zeal,  as  the  success  of  de  Montfort  inflated  their 
pride,  and  raised  their  hope  of  ultimately  and  ef- 
fectually extinguishing  the  light  of  the  Gospel.  Of 
these  new  levies,  not  a  few  fulfilled  their  stipulated 
term  of  service  before  the  walls,  and  left  them  still 
unbroken  ;  but  from  every  new  reinforcement  de 
Muntfort  swelled  his  band  of  permanent  followers ; 
men  who,  from  innate  love  of  slaughter,  or  from 
greediness  to  share  the  spoils  of  a  final  conquest, 
were  willing  to  march  under  his  standard  to  the  end 
of  the  war.  A  war  waged  by  Satan  himself  against 
the  Lord's  heritage  ;  but  which  de  Mentfwt  now  so 


180  THE    LADY    OK    tAVAUR. 

persevoringly  prosecuted  from  motives    of  worldly 
ambition. 

Still  Termes  held  out :  the  cisterns,  their  only  re- 
source, had  been  filled  by  the  rains,  while  the  heat 
of  summer  operated  prejudicially  on  the  soft  water 
so  collected.  Nevertheless,  the  tainted  beverage 
was  eagerly  drank ;  and  again,  before  the  winter 
cold  set  in  were  the  reseivoirs  in  like  manner  replen- 
ished. It  proved,  however,  the  occasion  of  such  se- 
vere and  fatal  disease  among  the  garrison,  that  while 
their  numbers  daily  decreased,  the  physical  strength, 
and  with  it,  no  doubt,  the  mental  energy  of  the  sur- 
vivors rapidly  failed.  A  longer  defence  was  con- 
sidered hopeless  ;  but  the  idea  of  yielding  them- 
se'.vcs  to  the  pitiless  conquerors  was  not  to  be  tol- 
erated. Their  resolve  was  taken  ;  preparations  were 
cautiously  and  noiselessly  made ;  and  in  the  dead  of 
a  November's  night,  the  exhausted  company  silently 
abandoned  their  stout  bulwarks,  passed  unobserved 
the  first  line  of  intrenchment,  and  hastily  separated, 
seeking  the  mountain-passes  into  Catalonia.  But 
such  a  movement  could  not  long  remain  undiscov- 
ered :  their  flight  was  made  known  in  the  camp,  and 
instantly  the  crusaders  rushed  to  arms.  With  mu- 
tual exhortation  they  cheered  each  other  on  to  the 
pursuit :  that  enemies  who,  in  addition  to  their  crimes 
against  the  Romish  Church,  had  already  cost  them 
so  much  personal  toil  and  loss  of  time,  should  es- 
oaue  with  their  lives,  would  be  a  stigma  at  once  on 
their  fidelity  to  the:  faith  and  pn  thsir  military  prgw- 


THE    LADY    OF    [,AVAUR.  181 

ess.  The  army  was  quietly  pressing  on  the  foot- 
stops  of  the  disheartened  fugitives,  Ihe  greater  num- 
ber of  whom  they  overtook;  and  at  once,  men,  wo- 
men, and  children  were  heaped  in  an  indiscriminate 
pile  of  slaughter,  wheresoever  the  murderous  wea- 
pon could  reach  them.  Raymond,  the  lord  of 
Termes,  was  captured  alive,  with  some  others,  whom 
they  wished  de  Montfort  to  have  the  glory  and  the 
high  merit  of  burning,  and  otherwise  torturing  to 
death.  They  had  their  desire  with  regard  to  the 
inferior  class  ;  but  Raymond's  sin  had  been  top 
grievous  to  be  so  speedily  expiated.  The  merciless 
Simon  refused  him  the  death  that  he  would  have 
hailed  as  a  boon,  and  remembering  a  deep  dark 
dungeon  under  a  tower  in  Carcassonne,  he  conveyed 
him  thither,  to  endure  years  of  hopeless  captivity 
in  its  most  cruel  form.  Of  him  we  know  no  more 
than  that  he  suffered  for  defending  those  who  knew 
and  loved  the  truth ;  and  if  that  truth  had  also 
made  him  spiritually  free,  his  dungeon  was  a  place 
of  liberty  and  light ;  for  Christ  was  there. 

At  this  distance  of  time,  and  with  nought  to  guide 
us  save  such  books  as  their  murderous  enemies  have 
written,  we  cannot  form  a  correct  judgment  of  indi- 
vidual  cises  like  this:  but  there  is  ground  for  irnny 
a  cheering  hope  concerning  thousands  of  vict  ms 
who  were  not  called  to  a  voluntary  martyrdom  like 
those  of  Minerve  ;  a  hope  which  the  great  day  of 
revelation  may  abundantly  confirm.  Then,  face  to 
face,  they  mus  meet,  the  slayers  and  the  slain  ;  and 
16 


182  THE    LADY    OF    LAVAl/R. 

lie  who  was  present,  marking  all,  discerning  every 
thought  of  every  heart,  and  tracing  every  action  to 
i;s  most  secret  spring,  will  award  a  judgment,  the 
tremendous  issuis  of  which  the  heart  of  man  may 
well  tremble  to  contemplate. 

War  in  its  most  dreadful  form  had  now  raged 
against  the  Albigenses  for  more  than  a  year  and  a 
half.  It  was  in  the  Spring  of  1209  that  the  first 
army  marched  upon  the  territories  of  Raymond 
Roger;  and  Termes  fell  in  November,  1210.  Far- 
ther resistance  seemed  to  be  abandoned  by  the 
wretched  inhabitants  of  neighboring  towns  and  cas- 
tles :  no  sign  of  opposition  was  seen ;  but  on  every 
side  helpless  fugitives  were  vainly  seeking  to  escape 
the  hands  of  the  triumphant  enemy,  to  whom  it  was 
mere  sport  to  pursue  them,  singly  or  in  groups,  and 
to  put  them  to  death  on  the  spot,  or  else  to  drag 
them  to  the  camp,  to  refresh  their  spirits,  and  reani- 
mate the  zeal  of  the  assembled  host,  by  the  specta- 
cle of  a  slow  burning.  All  seemed  to  augur  imme- 
diate and  utter  destruction  to  the  provinces  ;  even 
the  king  of  Arragon,  attached  as  he  had  long  been 
to  the  cause,  and  nearly  allied  both  to  the  Count  of 
Toulouse  and  to  Raymond  Roger,  was  beguiled  by 
the  plausibility  of  de  Montfort,  and  to  a  great  ex- 
tent, placed  himself  in  his  hands.  Simon,  however, 
was  too  much  inflated  by  pride,  and  too  conscious  of 
the  immense  power  that  he  wielded  in  the  dail\r  aug- 
menting host  of  fierce  crusaders  who  poured  in  on 
every  s'de,  to  u  ~>e  his  advantage  prudently.  Ho 


THE    LAI Y    OF    LAVAUR.  183 

treated  the  king  of  Arragon  and  the  Count  of  Tou- 
louse with  the  same  overbearing  insolence :  pro- 
claimed them  alike  rebels  against  the  supreme  power 
of  Rome,  and  even  attempted  to  place  them  under 
arrest  in  the  city  of  Aries,  whither  they  had  been 
invited  to  negotiate  with  the  lordly  legate  and  the 
usurping  chief.  This  of  course,  renewed  the  spirit 
of  indignant  opposition  in  the  bosoms  of  the  insulted 
parties ;  but  de  Montfort  cared  little  for  any  show  of 
future  resistance  :  the  preaching  firebrands  of  Citeaux 
sent  him  in  new  levies  ;  and  in  all  the  pride  of  as- 
sured success  he  marched,  in  the  following  spring, 
on  Cabaret,  where  a  stout  defence  was  anticipated  ; 
instead  of  which  the  citadel,  hitherto  impregnable 
by  hostile  power,  was  thrown  open  to  him,  and 
formed  the  first  of  a  series  of  unresisted  triumphs, 
along  the  line  of  mountainous  fortresses  that  frowned 
upon  the  rugged  passes  connecting  the  province  of 
Carcassonne  with  that  of  Toulouse.  Here,  the  wily 
commander,  feeling  the  value  of  such  rapid  advances 
*upon  a  more  important  scene  of  action,  restrained 
the  barbarity  of  his  followers,  and  exhibited  a  show 
of  leniency  to  those  who  submitted,  well  calculated 
to  encourage  the  practice  of  unconditional  surren- 
der. It  would  be  easy,  when  the  mighty  strong- 
holds of  truth  were  subdued,  and  no  refuse  left  for 

O 

the  scattered  few,  to  return  and  execute  vengeance 
on  all  who  shoxild  retain  even  a  semblance  of  relisj- 

O 

bus  liberty. 

Thus,  -  without  hindrance  and  without  loss,    the 


1^4  THE    LADY    OF    LAVAUR. 

dark  unbroken  m?-sses  cf  armed  destroyers  ap- 
proached the  populous  city  of  Touloase,  the  favored 
refuge  of  God's  people ;  the  garden  where  no  hand, 
human  or  infernal,  had  yet  succeeded  in  eradicating 
tlie  growth  of  plants  watered  from  above,  and  yield- 
ing the  increase  that  God  alone  could  give.  It  was 
etill  some  leagues  distant,  and  braving  their  advance 
stood  the  solitary  but  massive  castle  of  Laraur.  This 
was  known  to  be  in  the  possession  of  a  woman,  a 
widow,  whose  timidity  no  doubt  the  crusaders  ex- 
pected speedily  to  overawe  ;  but  the  lady  Guiraude 
was  an  openly  professing  follower  of  the  truth  as  it 
•  is  in  Jesus  ;  a  bold  separatist  from  the  authority  and 
from  the  errors  of  Home ;  and  she  had  made  her 
stout  castle  a  place  of  refuge  and  security  to  as 
many  of  her  fellow-believers  as  it  would  contain. 
She  had  also  with  her  a  brother,  both  in  the  flesh 
and  in  the  faith,  a  brave  knight  named  Aimery  de 
Montreal,  whose  possessions  had  been  seized  by  de 
Montfort,  while  he  with  eighty  other  faithful  knights, 
happily  escaped,  and  now  assisted  to  man  the  walls 
of  Lavaur.  In  all  the  province,  excepting  its  capital 
city,  there  was  not  a  place  more  confided  in  by  the 
persecuted  flock  than  this  castle.  Immensely  strong, 
perfectly  fortified  on  all  sides,  stored  with  abundance 
of  provisions,  ammunition,  and  whatsoever  could 
contribute  to  its  defence,  while  a  people  who  openly 
worshipped  God  in  spirit  and  in  truth  kept  watch 
and  ward  within,  it  was  a  point  of  most  thrilliug 
inteiest  to  the  flock  around:  of  most  sanguinary 


THfc    LADY   OF    LAVAUR,  1&5 

eagerness  01.  the  part  of  the  wolves  that  invaded 
them.  Thy  very  fact  of  its  being  the  heritage  of  a 
widow  who  served  God,  inspired  confidence  in  the 
bosoms  of  those  who  trusted  in  Him.  But  His  way 
is  sometimes  in  the  sea,  and  his  path  in  the  deep 
waters,  and  his  footsteps  are  not  known, 

Toulouse  being  so  near,  and  Count  Raymond  again 
in  opan  excommunication,  and  therefore  naturally 
looked  to  as  preparing  to  defend  himself  and  his 
subjects  from  the  agressor,  application  was  made  to 
him  for  further  supplies  by  the  garrison  of  Lavaur ; 
but  the  wretched  man  ventured  not  to  afford  them* 
At  the  same  time  the  infamous  bishop  of  the  place, 
Fouquet,  assembled  the  members  of  his  own  com- 
munion, and  in  a  fiery  harangue  represented  to  them 
the  vengeance  they  were  bringing  down  on  them- 
selves by  continuing  so  far  undistinguished  from  th« 
heretics  of  the  place.  He  ceased  not  until  he  had 
enrolled  a  company  of  five  thousand  citizens  of  Tou* 
louse,  and  marched  them  off  as  a  reinforcement  to 
swell  the  enormous  army  already  engaged  in  besieg- 
ing Lavaur.  This  is  one  of  the  most  fearful  instances 
of  that  positive  thirst  for  human  blood,  for  the  blood 
of  compatriots,  of  neighbors  and  kinsmen,  which 
forms  the  most  glaring  feature  of  Popery  during 
which  was  its  age  of  triumphant,  uncontrolled  do- 
minion, and  unrestrained  development  of  its  actual 
character.  That  five  thousand  men  should  be  found 
within  the  walls  of  a  city  to  volunteer  their  needless 
aid  in  slaughtering  their  very  brethren,  around  whom 
16* 


J£0  THE    LADY   OF    LAVAUR. 

a  host  countless  for  multitude,  and  terrible  in  destruc- 
tive might  were  swarming,  and  all  for  the  merito- 
rious piety  of  the  deed,  and  the  heavenly  reward  to 
be  reaped  for  it,  invests  this  mystery  of  iniquity  with 
a  hideousness  that  humanity  can  scarcely  bear  to 
look  on.  And  this  was  done  in  the  name  of  Jesus  ! 
This  was  done,  with  loud  invocations  of  the  Holy 
Spirit !  Truly  She  who  could  bring  such  thirjgs  to 
pass,  enlisting  in  the  work  men  of  every  country, 
had  made  all  nations  drunk  with  the  wine  of  the 
wrath  of  her  fornication  ;  truly  was  she,  and  is  she, 
the  Mother  of  abominations  :  and  woe  to  those  who 
are  partakers  of  her  sins,  and  shall  receive  of  her 
plagues. 

The  siege  of  Lavaur  proved  a  more  arduous  work 
than  the  assailants  had  anticipated  ;  and  its  prog- 
ress was  also  rendered  remarkable  by  events  that 
then  occurred.  Raymond  VI.,  the  miserable  slave 
of  cowardly  superstition,  was  not  ashamed  again  to 
appear  as  a  suppliant  for  Savor  at  the  hands  of  the 
two  tyrants,  Simon  and  Arnold  ;  but  all  his  conces- 
sions proved  vain.  Contempt,  insult,  and  the  avowal 
of  a  determination  to  take  possession  -of  his  widt 
and  valuable  dominions,  so  soon  as  their  present  en- 
terprise should  have  terminated,  were  all  that  he 
met  in  return  for  his  advances :  until  the  mere  in- 
stinct of  self-preservation  wrought  on  him  to  do  what 
he  ought  long  before  to  have  decided  on  upon  far 
nobler  grounds.  He  ceased  to  wear  the  semblance 
of  that  abject  submission  which  had  tendered  him 


Tttfi-LADV   Of   LAVATT"..  •  181 

to  wretchedly  contemptible  alike  to  friend  and  foe ; 
and  applying  as  chief  of  Toulouse  to  the  indepen- 
dent Iord8  of  the  surrounding  provinces,  of  Cora* 
tninges,  Foix,  Beam,  Aquitaine,  with  others  who 
were  involved  in  the  charge  of  sheltering  the  Albi- 
gensic  believers,  he  formed  a  strong  alliance  with 
them.  The  first  overt  act  of  rebellion  upon  which 
he  ventured  consisted  in  an  open  prohibition,  ad- 
dressed to  his  own  subjects,  against  furnishing  sup- 
plies to  the  besiegers'  camp :  and,  thus  committed, 
he  showed  signs  of  returning  resolution  that  cheered 
many  a  drooping  heart  among  the  people  whom  he 
had  been  heretofore  so  ready  to  sell  to  destruction 
at  the  price  of  a  little  personal  favor  from  the  Court 
of  Rome. 

It  may  be  doubted  whether  de  Montfort  felt  any 
concern  at  this  proceeding,  which  furnished  him 
with  an  additional  pretext  for  shedding  man's  blood  : 
and  the  knowledge  that  six  thousand  fresh  troops 
were  even  then  on  the  march  from  Germany  to  aid 
his  arms,  and  expected  shortly  to  arrive  before  La- 
vaur,  increased  his  confidence.  These  troops,  how- 
ever, arrived  not :  between  the  Tarn  and  the  Ga- 
ronne their  steps  were  arrested  by  an  ambuscade  of 
chosen  men,  commanded  by  the  gallant  Count  of 
Foix;  and  they  fell  in  one  wide  mass  of  slaughtei 
beneath  the  arms  of  those  whom  they  came  to  in- 
vade, to  despoil,  and  to  massacre.  This  event, 
combined  with  serious  distress  for  provisions,  arising 
from  Count  Raymond's  prohibition,  exasperated  de 


IBfi  Tttfi   LAM   OP   LAVAtm. 

Montfort  and  led  him  to  renewed  efforts  for  the  ac- 
complishment of  what  he  had  in  hand.  Machines, 
long  in  use  amon.?  Eastern  nations,  but  as  yet  un- 
known to  the  peaceful  dwellers  of  those  European 
Valleys,  were  brought  to  aid  his  operations.  Simon 
had  no  difficulty  in  directing  their  formation,  well 
practised  as  he  was  in  the  work  of  destruction  as  a 
veteran  crusader  in  the  Holy  Land,  and  surrounded 
by  knights  and  soldiers  who  had  served  there.  In- 
deed the  original  crusades  were  now  nearly  aban- 
doned for  the  lighter  service  of  a  slaughtering  ex- 
pedition of  forty  days  to  so  comparatively  short  a 
distance  from  home  :  the  same  recompense  being 
guaranteed  as  for  the  distant,  hazardous  exploit  of 
a  campaign  in  Palestine :  that  is  to  say,  pardon  of 
sin,  peace  of  conscience,  justification  before  God, 
and  eternal  life  ! 

The  machine  with  which  these  modern  Romans 
made  the  most  fatal  impression  on  the  walls  of  La- 
vaur  was  not  much  dissimilar  from  those  used  by 
their  pagan  predecessors  against  the  ancient  city  of 
our  God.  A  great  wooden  tower  having  been  con- 
structed in  the  camp,  and  cased  in  raw  hides  to 
protect  it  from  the  action  of  fire,  it  was  advanced 
to  the  foot  of  the  fortress ;  and  on  opening  it,  per- 
pendicularly a  huge  iron  beam  was  projected  by  the 
united  strength  of  many  men,  the  extremity  of  which 
was  furnished  with  great  iron  claws,  resembling 
those  of  a  tiger  or  a  cat,  (from  the  latter  animal  it 
took  its  name,)  and  these  being  applied  with  all 


THE    LADY    OF    LAVAUR.  189 

possible  force  to  the  wall,  the  stones  were  seized, 
separated,  torn  out,  and  in  most  cases  a  breach  soon 
effected.  In  the  present  instance,  however,  when 
de  Montfort  had  completed  his  "  cat,"  and  brought 
it,  under  a  formidable  escort  of  armed  men,  to  the 
walls  of  the  Protestant  fortress,  the  width  of  the 
ancient  ditches  was  found  so  great  as  to  baffle  all 
nis  skill,  defying  the  approach  of  those  tremendous 
iron  claws.  To  obviate  this,  he  employed  all  his 
army  in  laboring  to  fill  up  the  moat:  they  cast  in 
daily  prodigious  masses  of  earth,  stones,  and  what- 
ever might  raise  the  level  of  the  excavation  :  but 
every  night  the  defenders  quietly  issued  from  their 
subterranean  passages,  clearing  before  daybreak  the 
accumulated  rubbish.  This  siege  greatly  resembled 
in  some  points  that  of  Jerusalem  in  the  days  of 
Titus ;  and  de  Montfort  seemed  to  take  a  lesson 
from  the  records  of  that  war ;  for  he  had  recourse 
to  the  expedient  of  filling  these  communications 
with  smoke  and  flame,  during  the  intervals  of  the 
work ;  thus  driving  back  the  besieged,  and  leaving 
his  own  unhallowed  labors  unimpaired.  By  such 
means  he  filled  the  ditches,  formed  a  secure  footing 
for  his  infernal  machine,  and  tore  away  enough  of 
the  bulwarks  to  effect  a  practicable  breach. 

The  prey  was  now  within  their  grasp  ;  the  pious 
widow,  and  her  injured  brother,  and  all  to  whom 
her  castle  had  been  a  refuge  were  at  their  mercy 
Such  mercy!  Arnold  A malric,  it  appears,  was  ab- 
sent ;  for  the  bishop  of  C^urdien  officiated  as  his 


190  THK   LADY    OF    LAVA JR. 

representative:  and  assuredly  the  legate  wo  ild  not 
willingly  have  been  away  from  such  a  feast  of  death. 
This  man,  with  all  his  fellow-bishops,  priests,  and 
every  ecclesiastic  in  the  host,  arrayed  in  the  gor- 
geous finery  of  their  pontifical  habits,  formed  a  grand 
procession,  shouting  forth,  as  the  knights  mounted 
the  breach,  the  famous  hymn  that,  despite  its  high 
intrinsic  piety  and  poetry,  their  horrible  prostitution 
has  almost  rendered  hateful  to  Christian  ears  :  Veni 
Creator  Spiritus.  Simon  de  Montfort  meanwhile 
earnestly  entreated  the  furious  assailants  to  restrain 
their  present  vengeance  and  to  take  all  alive,  that 
the  priests  of  the  living  God  might  not  be  deprived 
of  their  promised  joys.  He  was  obeyed  :  Aimery 
was  first  dragged  forth,  with  his  faithful  companions 
in  arms  ;  and  de  Montfort  directed  them  to  be  forth- 
with hanged  upon  a  gallows  already  erected  for  that 
purpose,  but  which,  not  being  well  fixed,  gave  way 
with  the  weight  of  Count  Aimery  ;  and  to  avoid  the 
delay  of  repairing  it  he  commanded  the  other  eighty 
to  be  butchered  at  once  on  the  spot,  an  order  re- 
ceived and  obeyed  with  no  little  avidity  by  the  sol- 
diers of  the  Church.  The  lady  Guiraude  was  then 
brought,  and  received  her  sentence,  to  be  cast  into 
a  pit,  or  well,  which  was  found  in  the  place,  and  to 
be  buried  under  a  heap  of  stones.  The  inhabitants 
of  the  Castle  were  then  collected ;  and,  says  Peter 
de  Vaux-Cernay,  "  the  pilgrims  burned  them  alive 
frith  inexpressible  joy." 

Now,  as  it  is  so  much  the  practice  in  our  day 


THE    LADY    OF    LAVAtfK  191 

amor.g  learned  scribes  and  reverend  divines  of  a  par 
ticular  school,  not  only  to  "  sptak  gently  of  our  sis- 
ter's fall,"  meaning  Babylon  the  Great,  but  in  an 
especial  manner,  and  for  very  special  ends,  to  gloss 
over  and  to  eulogize  the  doings  of  the  Romish 
power,  at  the  period  of  which  we  treat,  blackening 
without  mercy  the  characters  of  God's  persecuted 
flock,  and  accusing  all  who  present  a  fair  and  ungar- 
bled  statement  of  facts,  of  falsification  and  misquota- 
tion, we  shall  just  place  before  our  readers  the  ex- 
pressions used  by  the  monk  Peter,  already  so  often 
cited,  and  which  we  copy,  verbatim  et  literatim,  from 
a  copy  of  his  famous  book  in  our  own  possession, 
bearing  title,  "  Historia  Albigensium,  et  sacri  belli 
in  eos,  Anno  M.C.C.IX.  duce  et  principe  Simone  a 
Monteforti,  deiu  Tolosano  comite,  rebus  strenue 
gestis  clarissimo.  Auctore  PETRO,  coenobij  Vallis 
Sarnensis  ord.  Cisterciencis  in  Parisiensi  dioecesi 
monacho,  cruceatse  huius  militiae  teste  oculato."  It 
bears  date,  'Trecis,'  1615. 

In  the  52nd  chapter,  the  monkish  eye-witness, 
who  went  as  the  special  scribe  and  eulogist  of  Guy, 
the  abbot  of  his  order,  thus  writes.  "  Mox  eductus 
est  de  castro  Aimericus  de  quo  supra  tetigirnus  que 
fuerat  domimis  mentis  regalis  &  alii  milites  usque 
ad  octoginta  nobilis  ante  Comes  proposuit,  quod 
oivmes  pattibulo  suspederetur,  sed  cum  Aimericus 
qui  erat  maior  inter  illos  suspensus  fuisset,  cadenti- 
bus  furcis,  quae  prae  nimia  festim  bene  non  fuerant 
terne  affixai,  natione  videns  comes  quod  raora  magna 


192  THE   LADT   OF   LAVAUR. 

fieret,  alios  occidi  prsecipit,  ^uos  peregrini  anidis« 
sime  suscipientes  occiderunt  citius  in  eodem  loco. 

Dominam  etiam  eastri  quse  erat Aimerici 

&  haeretica  pessima,  in  puteum  projeetam,  cornea 
lapidibus  obtui  fecit  innumerabiles  etiam  hfereticos. 
peregrini  nostri  cum  ingenti  gaudio  eombusserunt.' 

The  revolting  expression,  which  we  have  given  in 
the  language  of  the  original  work,  descriptive  of  the 
joyous  feelings  that  animated  the  so-called  Chris- 
tian host,  while  gazing  on  the  tortures  of  their  fel- 
low-creatures, writhing  in  those  burning  flames,  is 
not  of  solitary  occurrence  in  the  narrative  of  the 
Monk  Peter  ;  who,  being  present  on  these  occasions, 
and  writing  under  the  direction  of  his  patronizing 
Abbot,  Guy,  may  be  held  as  carefully  describing 
the  butcheries  that  he  records,  just  as  it  was  con- 
sidered desirable  that  the  world  should  view  them. 
He  uses  the  same,  or  exactly  similar  epithets  on 
many  other  occasions,  declaring  that  the  pilgrims 
burned  the  "  heretics"  with  great  joy  : — with  the 
utmost  joy  : — with  unspeakable  joy  :  only  varying 
the  phrases  without  altering  the  sense  of  the  words  ; 
and  perhaps  representing  occasionally  a  higher  dt 
gre«  of  delight,  as  the  number  of  victims  was  greater, 
or  their  constant  devotion  to  the  faith  which  they 
held  more  conspicuous  than  usual. 

It  is  impossible  to  read  the  words  without  being 
struck  by  the  fearful  accuracy  of  the  inspired  de- 
scription of  papal  Rome, — a  shameless  woman, 


THE    L  ID'f    OF    LAVAttR.  103 

DRUNKEN  with  the  blood  of  the  saints,  and  with  the 
blood  of  the  martyrs  of  Jesus.  Wluit  but  the  mad- 
ness of  intoxication  could  produce  so  fiendish  a  joy  ? 
What  but  the  frantic  mirth  of  drunkenness  give 
veil  to  such  a  laugh,  such  a  shout  of  wild  exultation 
as  responded  to  the  dying  groan  of  the  strong  man, 
the  shriek  of  the  tender  woman,  and  the  shrill,  pierc- 
ing cry  of  the  agonized  babe,  as -each  coiled  up  and 
shrivelled  amid  the  blazing  fires — or,  more  appalling 
still,  that  yell  of  satanic  delight,  drowning  the  voice 
of  prayer  and  praise  that  in  many,  very  many  in- 
stances issued  from  lips  that  could  utter  no  groan, 
no  cry,  on  the  very  threshold  of  heaven,  with  all  its 
unutterable  glories  opening  to  their  view  !  Many 
saw  beyond  the  flames  and  smoke,  obscuring  as  they 
did  the  material  firmament,  that  vision  which  burst 
on  Stephen  amid  the  shower  of  stones  :  and  the  in- 
tercessory prayer  of  the  proto-martyr  for  his  mur- 
derers burst  from  many  a  tongue,  parching  in  the 
cruel  fires,  that  were  to  be  succeeded  by  the  cool, 
refreshing  drops  of  the  river  that  proceeds  from  the 
throne  of  God  and  of  the  Lamb.  Nowhere  shall  we 
behold  a  more  striking  display  of  the  Church  of 
Christ  in  the  midst  of  the  synagogue  of  Satan ;  of 
the  Bride,  the  Lamb's  wife,  persecuted  unto  death 
bv  the  great  harlot  who  had  dared  to  usurp  he! 
name  and  place,  than  by  the  side  of  a  pile  where 
the  bodies  of  the  Albigenses  crumbled  into  ashes, 
while  the  followers  of  Rome  stood  round,  and  in  the 
17 


194  THE    LADY    OK    LAVATJR. 

6erce  excitement  of  spiritual  drunkenness,  mockeu 
their  dying-  pangs. 

The  reduction  of  Lavaur  was  a  very  important 
event :  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  enor- 
mous host  who  followed  de  Montfort  were  neither 
.accompanied  by  a  provisioning-  department,  nor  did 
they  receive  pay  in  any  other  shape  than  that  most 
intangible  coin  wherein  Great  Babylon  carries  on 
her  traffic  in  the  souls  of  men.  In  this  peculiar 
branch  of  her  commerce,  she  receives  from  them 
what  God  lias,  in  an  especial  manner,  laid  claim  to ; 
they  serve  her  with  all  the  heart,  all  the  mind,  all 
the  soul,  and  all  the  strength  ;  a  service  including 
the  whole  man,  not  only  in  his  affections,  intellec- 
tual capacities,  and  spiritual  devotedness,  but  also 
with  the  muscular  powers  of  the  bodily  frame,  set 
apart  to  do  her  bidding,  and  rendered  wholly  sub- 
servient to  her  will.  In  return  for  this  substantial 
tribute,  she  gives  her  own  verbal  security  for  all 
that  the  Lord  God  alone  can  dispense  to  His  crea- 
tures :  she  guarantees  an  oblivion  of  sin,  a  blotting 
out  of  the  record  that  is  against  the  sinner,  not  with 
the  blood  of  Christ,  but  by  means  of  some  mysteri- 
ous agent  of  her  own  invention  and  substitution  ; 
she  shows  a  key,  which  she  avers  to  be  that  of  par- 
adise, and  passes  her  promise  to  admit  by  its  power 
the  soul  of  her  wretched  customer  to  everlasting 
communion  with  God  and  with  His  saints.  What 
more  can  they  require?  the  very  service  demanded 
of  thea  in  this  instance  was  the  invasion  of  a  pecu- 


THE    LADV     OF    LAV A OR.  195 

liarly  rich  and  fruitful  country,  and  the  slaughter  ol 
its  inhabitants,  by  which  their  possessions  would,  of 
course,  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  victorious  survnors; 
and  no  marvel  that  a  thought  of  military  pay  01 
magazines  never  entered  the  head  of  either  party  in 
this  transaction.  Two  objects  alone  occupied  the 
mind  of  the  crusader:  slaughter  first;  because  that 
was  the  stipulated  price  of  his  soul's  salvation  ;  and 
next  plunder,  without  which  his  bodily  wants  could 
_not  be  supplied.  The  whole  system  is  one  of  fearful 
sublimity  in  the  wicked  wisdom  that  cometh  from 
beneath  :  it  caused  an  Apostle  who  had  witnessed 
the  mightiest  miracles  that  attested  the  truth  of 
Christianity,  and  who  himself  was  largely  gifted 
with  a  miracle-working  power,  to  wonder  with  great 
admiration  ;  and  well  may  it  cause  us  to  tremble 
and  to  weep  when  we  again  behold  it  at  our  very 
doors,  spinning  afresh  its  poisonous  web,  and  grad- 
ually inclosing  in  that  coil  of  death  those  whom  we 
have  known  and  loved,  with  whom  we  have  taken 
sweet  counsel  together,  and  walked  to  the  house  of 
God  in  company  ;  but  who  now  leave  the  pure  wor- 
ship of  that  house  to  prostrate  themselves  in  abom- 
inable idolatry  before  idols  of  wood  and  stone,  and 
gods  of  wheaten  bread  ! 

We  must,  however,  return  to  Lavaur,  as  having 
formed  a  most  important  step  in  the  advance  of  the 
invaders ;  for,  left  as  they  at  all  times  were  to  for- 
age for  themselves,  lying  before  a  fortress  when  tha 
country  all  around  had  been  exhausted  of  its  supplies, 


196  THE    LADY   OF    LAVATTR. 

and  pillage  could  find  nothing  to  grasp,  was  very 
discouraging,  In  the  present  instance,  Count  Ray 
mond's  bold  prohibition  of  the  succors  on  which  they 
had  confidently  reckoned,  as  the  natural  result  of  his 
notorious  dread  of  Rome,  almost  led  to  mutiny  in  the 
hungry  camp  ;  and  a  r.ew  series  of  reverses  menaced 
de  Montfort.  All  was  now  at  an  end  ;  the  garrison, 
and  all  the  inhabitants  of  Lavaur,  were  murdered , 
the  place  itself  plundered  of  whatever  remained,  and 
with  fresh  courage  the  destroying  multitude  moved 
on  to  new  outrages  against  the  Lord's  poor  flock. 

It  was  now  that  the  storm  so  long  gathering 
round  him,  and  so  often  averted  at  the  expense  of 
every  honorable  and  manly  feeling,  fell  upon  Count 
Raymond.  He  had  never  yet  experienced  any  direct 
attack  on  his  possessions,  although  the  sentence  of 
excommunication  so  repeatedly  renewed  against  him, 
placed  them  within  the  grasp  of  any  successful  as- 
sailant, and  his  life  at  the  mercy  of  any  bold  assas- 
sin. De  Montfort,  stung  by  the  inconvenience  that 
he  and  his  troops  had  lately  suffered  from  Ray- 
mond's refusal  of  supplies,  marched  them  at  once  to 
the  castle  of  Montjoye,  which  belonged  to  the  Count 
of  Toulouse  personally.  Defence  not  being  deemed 
practicable,  the  garrison  forsook  it ;  and  no  other 
gratification  could  the  crusaders  obtain  here,  than 
the  very  insufficient  one  of  demolishing  stone  walls. 
They  razed  it  to  the  ground ;  but  no  hi;  nan  victim 
appeared,  to  reward  their  eager  quest  for  blood. 
Next  in  their  each  stood  another  castle  of  Rav- 


THE  LADY  OP  LAVAVA.  197 

/nond's-— Cassero  ;  and  this  also  was  found  indefen- 
sible against  the  fierce  multitude  who  surrounded 
it ;  but  the  inhabitants  had  no  way  of  escape,  and 
they  capitulated.  No  scruple  of  course  was  made 
of  seizing  upon  as  many  as  would  afford  an  accept- 
able feast  to  the  eyes  of  the  conquerors  :  they  took 
some  sixty,  probably  the  greater  proportion  of  all 
whom  the  castle  contained  :  and  on  the  charge, 
whether  just  or  not,  of  holding  the  doctrines  of 
the  Gospel,  they  cast  them  upon  a  blazing  pile  of 
firewood:  in  the  words  of  Peter  the  monk,  "The 
soldiers,  seizing  nearly  sixty  heretics,  burned  them 
with  infinite  joy."  Or,  as  the  original  stands,  "  sed 
cum  nee  vinum  convertere  potuisset  exierunt  a  cas- 
tro,  peregrini  autem  arripientes  htereticos  ferme  sex- 
aginta  eos  cum  ingenti  gaudio  combusserunt."  The 
character  given  by  our  Lord  to  his  disciples  in  this 
world,  is  that  of  "  lambs  among  wolves."  Whose 
disciples  were  these,  so  mysteriously  and  ferociously 
enacting  the  part  of  wolves  among  lambs  ? 

The  march  proceeded  ;  castle  after  castle,  and  vil- 
lage after  village  was  swept  down  and  overwhelmed 
by  this  terrible  flood.  The  latter,  of  course,  like 
the  insulated  cottages  of  those  bright  valleys  and 
fertile  plains,  fell  at  once  beneath  the  murderous 
blow  ;  the  fortified  places  were  surrendered  with 
the  usual  sanguinary  consequences,  unless  their  in- 
mates found  means  of  privately  escaping  during  the 
enemy's  appioach.  Spring  had  returned,  and  €arth 
would  fain  have  put  on  her  wonted  beauties ;  but 
17* 


IflS  THE    LADY   OP   LAVAffft, 

all  was  forlorn  ;  the  song  of  the  husbandmati  ^ad 
ceased,  and  the  vine-dresser's  hand  was  mouldering 
on  the  soil  that  once  he  loved  to  deck,  or  borne  in 
imperceptible  ashes  on  the  breeze  that  should  fan 
his  cheek.  Snring  passed,  and  summer  arrived, 
only  to  make  more  plain  the  fearful  change  that  had 
passed  over  the  land  ;  while,  fired  by  the  fame  of 
his  deeds,  and  doubly  assured  of  his  final  success, 
a  vast  body  of  reinforcements,  principally  from  Ger- 
many, arrived  to  increase  the  terrors  of  the  deso- 
lating army  ;  and  de  Montfort  resolved  on  seizing 
the  grandest  prize  that  he  had  yet  attempted,  even 
the  magnificent  capital  of  the  country,  the  power- 
ful, wealthy,  and  to  all  appearance  impregnable  city 
of  Toulouse. 

Here,  it  will  be  remembered,  the  turbulent  bishop, 
Fouquet,  had  enrolled  five  thousand  men  for  de 
Montfort's  service,  during  the  siege  of  Lavaur. 
They  had  not  yet  returned,  but  were  summoned  by 
him  to  do  so;  and  in  the  meanwhile  he  augmented 
this  "  white  company,"  as  he  called  it,  to  a  very 
formidable  body ;  for  the  great  bulk  of  citizens  iff 
Toulouse  still  professed  allegiance  to  Rome,  and  wil- 
lingly listened  to  the  vehement  asseverations  of  theii 
bishop,  that  all  the  calamities  which  had  fallen  on 
tlieir  country,  nnd  which  now  menaced  themselves, 
were  the  righteous  visitations  of  the  Most  High,  in 
punishment  for  their  sinful  connivance  at  the  abode 
of  notorious  heretics  among  them,  and  the  indiffer- 
ence with  which  tl  ey  regarded  the  daring  rebellion 


THE    LADY   OP   LAVAVn.  199 

of  these  reprobates  ag  linst  the  sovereign  authority 
of  the  Church.  To  this  he  failed  not  to  add,  that 
the  prince  whom  they  served  was  himself  lying  un- 
der the  ban  of  that  Church  ;  and  thus  he  represented 
to  them  the  necessity  of  purging  out  from  among 
them  the  transgressors,  and  of  bringing  all  things 
once  more  into  subjection  to  the  pontiff.  By  such 
means  be  organized  a  very  considerable  band  of  in- 
fluential men,  who  having  bound  themselves  by  oath 
to  pursue  all  heretics  to  death,  set  up  a  tribunal,  in- 
dependent of  lawful  authority,  where  they  acted 
both  as  accusers  and  judges,  the  principal  charges 
on  which  they  arraigned  their  victims  being  those  of 
heresy  and  usury.  From  judgment  they  proceeded 
to  execution  ;  and  not  venturing  so  far  as  formally  to 
take  the  lives  of  their  fellow-citizens,  they  made  the 
levying  of  fines,  or  recovery  of  pretended  damages, 
an  excuse  for  forcibly  entering  their  houses,  and 
committing  whatsoever  acts  of  violence  and  robbery 
they  found  opportunity  for.  No  man  was  safe  :  all 
who  were  pointed  out  as  being  defective  in  alle 
giance  to  the  Church ;  all  who  were  supposed  to 
favor  them ;  all  who,  by  liberality  in  lending  to 
others  had  laid  themselves  open  to  the  false  accusa- 
tion of  making  excessive  profit  by  it,  (and  these,  no 
doubt,  were  such  as  the  malicious  bishop  suspected 
of  what  he  called  heresy,  but  was  unable  to  prove 
against  them,)  all  were  alike  exposed  to  the  invasion 
of  a  fi  >rce  mob,  composed  of  their  own  neighbors, 
and  pi  course  containing  many  individuals  who 


200  TRE   LADY   6P 

«hem  pei-son illy  on  the  same  grounds  that  Cain 
hated  Abel  upon,  and  on  which  he  that  is  "after 
the  flesh"  ever  has  persecuted  htm  that  is  "  after 
the  Spirit:"  these  men  came  armed  with  the  pre- 
tended authority  of  law,  to  execute  judgment,  while 
they  only  perpetrated  cruelty  and  wrong.  Such 
were  the  multiplied  sufferings  of  the  Church  of 
Christ  in  those  days  !  So  fared  it  with  the  poor 
sheep  in  the  wilderness  of  this  world. 

But  Toulouse  possessed  another  class  of  citizens ; 
men  who,  without  actually  separating  from  the  Ro- 
rnish  communion,  were  heartily  sick  of  the  manifold 
abominations  that  prevailed  in  it — the  pride,  avarice, 
cruelty,  and  dissoluteness  of  the  priesthood,  their 
former  dronish  ignorance,  now  suddenly  changed 
into  the  most  murderous  zeal,  and  the  horrible  joy 
with  which  they  celebrated  the  wholesale  butcheries 
of  their  crusading  companions  :  they  were  also  indig- 
nant at  the  daring  contempt  displayed  of  constituted 
authority,  and  desertion  of  their  ruler  just  when  he 
most  needed,  and  certainly  best  deserved  their  help; 
and  no  less  at  the  inhuman  persecution  of  the  most, 
harmless,  blameless,  and  exemplary  of  their  whole 
population.  Actuated  by  such  feelings,  they  lost  no 
time  in  forming  themselves  into  a  protective  society, 
which  they  denominated  "the  black  company,"  and 
took  such  energetic  measures  for  the  suppression  of 
the  bishop's  party  that  the  whole  city  was  shortly 
in  a  state  of  civil  war.  These  hostile  bands  paraded 
the  streets,  fully  armed,  with  characteristic  banners 


THE    LADY    OF    LAVAUR.  20] 

displayed  ;  and  alternately  tliey  attacked,  took,  and 
destroyed  portions  of  the  fortifications  which  hap- 
pened to  be  garrisoned  by  individuals  of  the  adverse 
badge.  Thus  were  the  defences  of  the  place  weak- 
ened, and  the  way  paved  for  an  almost  unresisted 
entrance,  whenever  the  crusaders  should  think  fit  to 
attempt  it. 

But  Raymond  had  thrown  off  the  crushing  yoke 
of  Rome,  so  far  as  regarded  his  temporal  rights 
and  with  it,  howsoever  burdened  his  conscience 
might  be  with  memoriesof  the  irrecoverable  past,  he 
was  rid  of  an  immense  weight  of  present  guilt, 
treachery,  and  servility.  Once  more  he  moved  as 
an  independent  lord  among  the  multitudes  with 
whom  he  was  still  popular  on  many  accounts  ;  and 
feeling  like  a  freed-man,  both  in  body  and  mind,  he 
acted  accordingly,  with  more  wisdom  and  far  greater 
determination  than  he  had  exhibited  for  many  a  day. 
Knowing  that  the  return  of  the  five  thousand,  fresh 
from  the  massacre  of  Lavaur,  would  tend  both  to 
feed  the  flame  of  enmity  and  to  throw  a  great  pre- 
ponderance into  the  wrong  scale,  he  watched  for 
their  arrival,  and  addressed  them  in  terms,  the  jus- 
tice of  which  they  well  understood,  having  been  wit- 
nesses of  the  indiscriminate  thirst  for  slaughter,  fcr 
plunder,  and  for  the  temporal  aggrandizement  of 
their  leader,  that  prevailed  among  the  crusaders. 
He  set  before  them,  and  ultimately  before  the  whole 
company,  th"  certainty  of  general  destruction  to 
which  they  we  -e  exposing  themselves  and  their  fami- 


202  THE    LADY    OF    1 IVAUR 

lies,  by  icndering  the  city  an  easy  conquest  t>  thos* 
who  conquered  only  to  annihilate  :  he  implored  tnem 
to  lay  aside  their  differences  for  a  time  ;  to  unite  in  re- 
pairing what  had  been  injured  of  the  defences,  and  to 
restore  what  had  fallen  into  dicay.  So  well  did  he 
succeed  with  both  parties,  that  a  suspension  of  hos- 
tilities took  place ;  and  he  had  the  satisfaction  of 
witnessing  the  first  augury  of  a  prosperous  issue  to 
the  contest,  in  the  good  will  with  which  the  adverse 
companies  betook  themselves  to  that  work  that  he 
had  pointed  out.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  Fou- 
quet,  in  arming  them  one  against  the  other,  had 
acted  on  the  usual  principle  of  Rome ;  by  dividing 
to  overcome,  and  to  reign  over  a  depopulated  coun- 
try. 

Count  Raymond,  from  being  so  long  the  degraded 
tool  of  Antichrist,  was  once  more  bearing  the  sword 
as  an  appointed  ruler,  therefore  the  vicegerent  of 
God,  over  his  people  ;  and  the  event  was  in  just 
accordance  with  such  a  change.  Its  first  result 
was  not  a  little  remarkable  :  Fouquet,  abandoning 
all  hope  of  executing  the  behests  of  his  masters, 
summoned  around  him  his  multitude  of  priests,  all 
robed  in  canonical  vestments,  and  denouncing  the 
city  as  having  become  the  abode  of  all  evil,  through 
the  general  excommunication  tlut  Arnold  had  ful- 
minated against  it  from  the  camp,  he  had  the  wafer 
elevated  on  high,  and  barefooted,  chanting  doleful 
litanies,  the  whole  company  quitted  the  place,  Fou- 
quet marching  at  their  head,  to  throw  themselves 


1HF.    LADY    OF    LA  VA  CJR.  203 

into  the  friendly  arms  of  their  crusading  bicthren. 
It  was  a  happy  day  for  Toulouse  and  for  the  ha- 
rassed Raymond,  Avhen  these  troublers  took  theii 
departure :  the  whole  population  breathed  m-ore 
freely ;  and,  though  there  were  not  wanting  many 
to  bewail  aloud  the  state  of  their  deserted  shrines, 
if  all  who  in  their  hearts  did  not  acknowledge  it  as 
a  good  deliverance  had  been  set  apart  from  the  rest, 
they  would  have  formed  but  a  small  company. 

Cheerily  and  in  good  earnest  the  besieged  now 
tetook  themselves  to  somewhat  more  than  merely 
defensive  operations.  Raymond,  no  longer  the 
craven  and  the  crest-fallen,  but  once  more  the  en- 
terprising warrior  of  former  days,  was  stimulated  to 
new  achievements  as  he  saw  before  the  walls  of  his 
magnificent  capital  the  betrayer,  the  murderer  of  his 
gallant  kinsman,  Raymond  Roger,  usurping  the  ti- 
tles and  possessions  of  the  infant  heir,  and  glaring 
with  the  eager  rapacity  of  a  hungry  wolf  on  the 
rich  prize  that  he  hoped  to  seize,  by  disposing  in 
like  manner  of  the  uncle  as  he  had  done  of  the 
nephew.  -  Moreover,  Count  Raymond  had  a  long 
score  of  dark  offences  to  wipe  out,  committed,  and 
connived  at,  against  the  people  and  the  cause  of 
God  ;  and  against  a  multitude  of  innocent  victims 
whom  his  treachery  had  mainly  sacrificed  to  their 
inhuman  foes.  Thus  excited,  he  placed  himself  at 
the  head  of  his  troops  and  citizens,  who  were  ena- 
bled in  the  chieftain  and  prince  to  forget  the  flagel- 
lated offender  against  papal  insolence,  and  by  a  sues- 


204  THE    LADY    OF    LAVAUR. 

cession  of  well-planned  sallies  equally  judii  ioxis  as 
bold,  he  thinned  the  forces,  intercepted  the  supplies, 
and  so  completely  baffled  all  the  plans  of  Simon, 
that  well  knowing  the  expiration  of  the  next  forty 
days  would  see  a  very  Urge  proportion  of  his 
fatigued  and  discomfited  host  abandon  him,  the 
haughty  leader  found  it  impossible  even  to  remain 
before  the  walls  on  which  he  had  boasted  his  flag 
should,  long  ere  that  period,  float  in  triumph  ;  and 
lie  was  compelled  to  quit  the  prey  that  of  all  oth- 
ers he  most  longed  to  grasp. 

Retreat  was  not  to  be  thought  of :  the  domains  of 
the  Count  of  Foix  offered  the  allurements  of  sup- 
posed inadequacy  of  defence,  with  ripening  vine- 
yards, and  all  the  luxurious  fertility  of  a  Provenca 
summer.  Thither  he  bent  his  steps,  with  such  of 
the  crusaders  as  still  clave  to  him  ;  and  many  a  deed 
of  blood  they  wrought  among  the  helplessin  habi- 
tants of  a  peaceful  district.  The  SAVord  was  never 
sheathed,  nor  did  the  smoke  of  burning  cease  to 
ascend,  so  long  as  victims  could  be  hunted  out  to 
satiate  their  demands.  In  this  work  the  runaway 
priests  of  Toulouse  were  valuable  auxiliaries  :  they 
knew  the  country  well ;  and  they  could  point  out 
not  only  rural  dwellings,  but  whole  villages  that 
might  have  escaped  the  stranger's  unaided  search. 
Brother  betraying  brother,  parents  delivering  up 
their  children  to  death,  and  pastors  guiding  the 
wolf  to  the  bosom  of  the  fold, — these  were  a  few 
of  the  horrors  that  accompanied  that  fearful  war 


THE    I.ADV    OF   XAV.tCK.  203 

against  the  saints.  The  undefended  parts  jf  Foii 
being  thus  desolated,  de  Montfort  proceeded  into 
the  next  territory,  Quercy  ;  and  here  he  extorted 
from  the  remnant  of  the  slaughtered  inhabitants,  a 
recognition  of  his  usurped  title,  as  prince  of  a  country 
which,  lying  under  the  ban  of  the  Pope,  became 
the  lawful  perquisite  of  the  Pope's  chief  exeui- 
tioner. 

As  no  affliction  for  the  present  seemeth  joyous, 
but  grievous ;  and  as  it  cannot  be  but  that  the  heart 
of  man  will  desire  to  see,  if  it  be  God's  will,  the 
cup  of  bitter  sorrow  removed  from  before  him,  we 
may  feel  assured  that  the  persecuted  people  of  God 
hailed  with  gladness  the  hope  which  rose  upon  them 
when  their  lawful  rulers,  the  Counts  of  Toulouse,  of 
Foix,  and  of  Comminges,  the  Viscount  of  Beam, 
Savary  de  Mauleon,  and  others,  prepared  to  assail 
the  invader,  and  to  drive  him  from  his  prey.  De 
Montfort  was  in  his  turn  besieged  in  Caste!  naudery, 
and  for  some  time  it  appeared  doubtful  whether  the 
day  of  retribution  had  not  arrived,  and  deliverance 
dawned  on  the  afflicted  heritage  of  the  Lord  ;  but 
after  some  desperate  encounters,  the  persecutor  es- 
caped this  threatening  danger,  and  found  himself 
reinforced  by  new  levies.  Still  a  measure  of  suc- 
cess attended  the  union  of  those  who  desired  to  pro- 
tect their  Christian  subjects  ;  and  Simon  found  him- 
self driven  back  from  his  advanced  position,  the 
greater  part  of  the  castles  which  he  had  captured 
1* 


206  THE    LADY    OF    LAVAUR. 

retaken,  his  garrisons  put  to  flight,  or  perishing  ly 
the  sword  that  his  unprecedented  barbarities  had 
whetted  against  all  who  followed  his  banner ;  and 
his  immense  multitude  of  military  auxiliaries  dwin- 
dled away  to  a  very  small  band  of  personal  adher- 
ents. At  the  end  of  the  year,  such  was  his  position, 
and  such  it  remained  for  the  next  six  months ;  not 
through  any  slackening  of  the  pace  of  those  whose 
feet  were  ever  swift  to  shed  blood ;  but  because  it 
had  pleased  the  bishop  of  Rome  to  proclaim  a  new 
crusade  in  Spain,  whither  a  great  multitude  has- 
tened to  wash  out  their  sins  in  the  blood  of  the 
Moors. 

On  this  expedition,  as  being  foreign  to  our  sub- 
ject, we  do  not  dwell ;  merely  pausing  to  remark, 
that  the  exploits  performed  in  Spain  were  by  no 
means  commensurate  with  the  preparations  made, 
and  the  great  demonstration  of  military  strength 
that  the  crusaders  succeeded  in  displaying.  The 
most  remarkable  feature  of  the  campaign  was  the 
triumphant  massacre  of  a  whole  population  of  inno- 
cent and  defenceless  Jews  in  Castile.  It  seemed  as 
though,  wherever  a  curse  could  be  gathered,  Rome 
must  even  step  out  of  her  regular  path  to  appro- 
priate it ;  and  here  for  a  little  space,  the  lambs  of 
the  Lord's  fold  were  left  unmolested,  that  by  a  mur- 
derous attack  on  the  poor  lost  sheep  of  the  house  of 
Israel,  the  daring  adversary  of  the  Most  High  might 
secure  a  claim  to  that  awful  promise,  given  respect- 
ing th«  send  of  Abraham  "  I  will  curse  them  that 


THE    LAPY    OF    LAVAUR.  201 

curse  thee."  In  vain  did  the  Spaniards  of  Castile, 
at  that  time  untainted  with  the  desperate  spirit  of 
hatred  and  cruelty  afterwards  manifested  in  Spain 
against  the  ancient  people  of  God,  rally  round  the 
Hebrew  compatriots  whom  they  had  learned  by  ob- 
servation and  experience  to  love  and  respect,  as  did 
the  Provencals  their  Albigensic  neighbors:  their  aid 
was  ineffectual,  and  Jewish  blood  dyed  every  gar- 
ment among  the  ferocious  soldiers  of  the  cross. 
After  this  meritorious  work,  they  took  their  depart- 
ure, alleging  that  the  climate  of  Spain  became  too 
uultry  for  them  as  summer  advanced  ;  and  return- 
ing home  they  found  fresh  excitements  to  rejoin  their 
former  banner  under  the  Count  de  Montfort. 

Military  events  had  indeed  been  stationary  in  the 
aouth  of  France,  for  an  unusually  long  period  ;  but 
the  great  wheels  of  the  machinery,  the  ecclesiastical 
department,  had  moved  in  a  singular  revolution. 
We  have  seen  in  the  case  of  Fouquet,  Bishop  of 
Toulouse,  with  how  fiery,  how  subtle,  and  how  per- 
severing a  zeal  the  cause  of  Rome  could  be  main- 
tained by  a  prelate  in  what  was  regarded  as  the 
very  nest  and  nucleus  of  all  heresy  ;  and  doubtless 
there  were  many  others  equally  devoted  with  him- 
self to  that  cause  ;  but  the  Papal  policy  is  to  ac- 
count nothing  of  friendly  intentions,  even  when 
borne  out  by  deeds,  where  others  have  shown  them- 
selves able  to  render  more  weighty  service.  The 
monks  of  Citeaux,  as  we  have  all  .along  seen,  were 
the  preat  propelling  power  of  the  crusade,  and  their 


208  THE    LAiJY    OF    LAVAUK. 

farther  services  must  be  secured,  under  the  guise  of 
a  recompense  for  the  past ;  all  being  made,  of  course, 
subservient  to  tie  high  interests  and  honor  of  their 
holy  mother  Church.  To  accomplish  this,  a  pre- 
text was  made  of  great  lack  of  zeal  and  activity 
among  the  secular  clergy  of  the  invaded  provinces ; 
to  their  supineness  were  attributed  the  recent  re- 
verses of  de  Montfort ;  and  to  their  indiflerontism, 
the  alarming  spread  of  deadly  heresies  in  their  re- 
spective dioceses. 

This  was  enough :  all  must  be  sacrificed  to  the 
good  cause  :  and  as  a  matter  of  course  the  suspected 
parties  were  removed,  to  make  room  for  the  more 
zealous  brethren  of  Citeaux.  Guy,  the  famous  ab- 
bot of  Vaux-Cernay,  obtained  the  bishopric  of  Car- 
cassonne, by  the  resignation  (enforced,  no  doubt)  of 
its  previous  occupant ;  but  Arnold  Amalric,  the  fe- 
rocious legate,  chief  of  the  order  of  Citeaux,  here 
outdid  himself,  and  somewhat  damaged  the  cause, 
by  his  unscrupulous  and  unblushing  ambition.  Not 
content  with  the  Archbishopric  of  Narbonne,  he  con- 
trived, by  a  very  characteristic  manoeuvre,  to  add 
thereto  the  temporal  sovereignty  of  that  rich  prov- 
ince :  when  he  fulminated  the  sentence  of  excom- 
munication against  Raymond  VI.,  instead  of  naming 
a  successor  to  the  several  states,  he  added  a  clause, 
securing  each  lordship  to  whosoever  should  be  first 
to  occupy  the  place.  It  only  remained  for  him  to 
repair  to  Narbonne,  which  he  did  in  the  character 
of  Archbishop,  and  thereon  grounded  his  daim 


TH£    LADY    OF    LAV  UJR.  200 

entire  sovereignty.  Only  six  days  elapsed  between 
his  assumption  of  the  archiepiscopal  dignity,  and  his 
demand  for  homage  as  the  Viscount  de  Narbonne. 

This  step  exceedingly  enraged  de  Montfort ;  who, 
reasonably  enough,  supposed  that  his  compact  with 
Rome,  while  it  secured  to  her  the  blood  of  the  in- 
habititits,  left  the  land  and  the  gold,  no  less  than 
the  spiritual  recompense,  to  her  warrior-execution- 
ers. A  rupture  between  two  such  leaders  as  the 
Count  and  the  Legate  boded  no  good  ;  and  a  deeper 
effect  was  produced,  by  convincing  some,  even  of 
the  persecuting  party,  that  these  enthusiastic  mis- 
sionaries of  Citeaux  had  somewhat  of  more  tangible 
value  in  prospect,  while  exercising  their  vocation  to 
the  slaughter  of  so  many  thousand  innocent  fellow- 
beings,  than  the  canonization  with  which  the  Church 
might  perchance  some  day  crown  their  memories. 
The  effect  was  widely  felt,  and  perhaps  it  was  a 
stroke  of  policy  on  the  part  of  Arnold  to  leave  as  he 
did  his  new-found  honors  for  a  while,  and  volunteer 
to  accompany  the  crusade  into  Spain.  We  can  pen- 
etrate but  a  little  way  the  mystery  of  iniquity  in 
these  its  dark  and  long-past  workings,  but  whether 
more  or  less  be  revealed  to  our  gaze,  we  find  it  ever 
the  same,  ever  wily,  active,  inveterately  liostile  in  ita 
actings  against  God's  truth  and  people ;  but  nevei 
losing  sight  of  the  great  object  of  temporal  aggran- 
dizement, whether  as  a  whole,  or  in  its  several  parts. 

The  relurn  of  midsummer  found  the  devastated 
provinces  but  little  recovered  from  the  wretched 
18* 


210  JflE    LADY    OF    LAVAUR. 

slate  in  which  the  destroyer  had  left  them.  The 
land,  indeed,  was  but  too  richly  watered  with  the 
blood  that  tended  to  fertilize  it  anew ;  but  hands 
were  lacking  to  dress  the  sprouting  vine,  and  where 
such  were  found,  the  hearts  that  should  have  cheered 
thorn  to  the  work  were  sad,  and  heavy,  and  full  of 
despondency.  Too  well  they  knew  that  the  vulture 
held  his  perch  on  their  confines  ;  and  that  the  diver- 
sion which  had  for  a  short  season  kept  him  unaided, 
would  speedily  be  at  an  end.  The  extermination  of 
such  as  .dared  openly  to  protest  against  any  of 
Rome's  abominations,  was,  moreover,  nearly  com- 
plete in  those  territories ;  the  life  and  strength-giv- 
ing faith  that  had  upheld  the  martyrs  was  only  to 
be  found,  scattered  and  obscured,  beneath  the  low 
roofs  of  distant  cottages ;  and  little  could  be  de- 
scried beyond  the  melancholy  inertness  of  a  mass 
who  knew  themselves  doomed  to  temporal  destruc- 
tion, without  enjoying  the  assured  prospect  of  an  in- 
heritance reserved  in  heaven  for  them — the  purchase 
and  the  gift  of  the  Son  of  God. 

Their  anticipations  were  realized :  the  monks  of 
Citeaux,  inflamed  with  new  ardor  by  the  substantial 
marks  of  gratitude  recently  conferred  on  their  order, 
betook  themselves  to  preaching  in  an  enlarged 
sphere,  and  with  increased  vehemence.  De  Mont- 
fort's  army  was  quickly  swelled  again  to  its  wonted 
extent :  and  as  he  renewed  his  advance,  the  intimi- 
dated Toulousians  were  glad  to  abandon  every  for- 
tress that  ttey  had  retaken,  saving  by  flight  their 


THE    LADY    OF    LAVAUR.  211 

crwn  lives  Occasionally  the  footsteps  of  the  Church 
of  Christ  were  to  be  traced  again,  even  over  this  worn- 
out  track,  in  vestiges  of  blood  and  scorching  embers, 
when  some  simple  country  hind,  some  vine-dresser, 
or  peasant  girl,  who  had  been  captured  by  the  scouts 
of  the  crusading  force,  had  witnessed  a  good  profes- 
sion, and  endured  the  last  fiery  trial  of  a  faith  that 
could  not  fail :  but  so  well  had  the  work  been  ac- 
complished in  the  preceding  years,  that  of  all  the 
few  castles  which  now  dared  a  show  of  resistance, 
two  only,  those  of  St.  Antonin  and  of  St.  Marcel, 
furnished  a  tolerable  number  of  victims  whom  the 
persecutors  could  put  to  death  avowedly  for  the 
truth's  sake  which  they  openly  held.  Many  suffered 
here. 

At  another  place,  Boissac,  against  which  he  pre- 
vailed after  a  spirited  defence,  de  Montfort  could 
not  find  a  pretext  for  bringing  the  charge  of  heresy 
against  any  of  its  inhabitants  ;  yet  to  allow  them,  as 
then  it  was  his  policy  to  do,  to  capitulate,  without 
a  massacre  of  some  sort,  would  have  been  too  severe 
a  trial  for  him  :  he  therefore  hit  on  an  expedient 
scarcely  credible  in  our  days.  The  people  of  Bois- 
sac had  been  greatly  aided  in  their  defence  by  the 
willing  services  of  a  body  of  routiers,  who  happened 
then  to  be  within  their  walls,  to  the  number  of  three 
hundred  men.  These  rude  soldiers,  who  knew  noth- 
ing of  controversial  matters,  and  lived  merely  by  the 
eword,  wherever  they  could  find  employ,  had  ena- 
bled the  garrison  not  only  to  hold  out  so  far,  but  to 


212  THE    LADY    OF    t,A\  4L'R. 

demand  fair  terms  as  the  price  of  a  surrender  now, 
The  only  terms  that  the  ferocious  conqueror  would 
grant  were  these — that  the  citizens  should  suddenly 
rise  upon  and  massacre  their  unsuspecting  and  valu- 
able fellow-helpers,  the  routiers.  There  was  no  alter- 
native :  the  cold  calculations  of  de  Montfort  were 
always  borne  out  by  the  event;  and  no  hope,  sare 
for  a  short  and  uncertain  respite,  with  a  general  de- 
struction very  certain  to  follow  it,  appeared  to  the 
wretched  citizens.  That  they  were  not  true  Chris- 
tians is  evident  from  the  fact  of  their  fulfilling  the 
terms  of  this  infamous  contract :  that  the  routiers 
were  not  accounted  as  belonging  to  the  people  of 
Christ,  is  equally  evident,  from  the  Crusaders  being 
willing  that  any  hands  but  their  own  should  perpe- 
trate the  murder. 

Toulouse  and  Montauban  were  now  become  the 
only  places  of  refuge  for  the  terrified  people :  no 
other  was  considered  of  strength  sufficient  to  with- 
stand the  terrible  siege  of  de  Montfort,  whose  nat- 
ural cruelty  and  thirst  for  blood  seemed  to  have  re- 
ceived a  new  stimulus  and  to  rage  with  tenfold 
violence,  since  the  defection  of  the  legate,  and  his 
subsequent  inactivity  during  the  Spanish  crusade. 
So  rapid  was  his  advance,  and  so  alarming  his  suc- 
cesses, that  Count  Raymond  deemed  it  right  to 
hasten  in  person  to  the  court  of  his  sovereign,  and 
brother-in-law,  Peter,  King  of  Arragon,  to  claim  as 
a  vassal  that  sovereign's  aid  against  an  invader  who, 
under  pretence  of  more  fully  establishing  the  eccle 


THE    EADY    OF    LAVA  ITS.  213 


supremacy,  which  both  the  Count  and  the 
King  acknowledged,  was  wresting  the  temporal 
possessions  of  the  former  from  their  rightful  lord, 
and  bringing  the  dominions  of  the  latter  into  sub- 
jection to  a  foreign  prince.  For  it  was  de  Mont- 
fort's  care,  wheresoever  he  established  his  authority, 
to  render  every  thing  French  :  he  issued  formal  de- 
crees compelling,  among  other  things,  all  widows 
and  heiresses  to  marry  Frenchmen  only,  for  the 
space  of  the  next  ten  years  :  thus  most  effectually 
extinguishing  the  pride  of  those  high  Provencal 
houses  who  had  ever  gloried  in  their  unsullied  de- 
scent from  the  ancient  Goths,  or  from  the  ancient 
Romans  ;  thence  deriving  no  small  share  of  that 
independence  which  led  the  most  worldly  among 
them  to  espouse  the  cause  of  their  humble  Christian 
compatriots,  against  what  they  regarded  as  an  at- 
tempt at  foreign  temporal  usurpation. 

We  have  already  seen  Peter  of  Arragon  under 
very  favorable  circumstances,  as  encouraging  his 
noble  nephew,  Raymond  Roger,  to  maintain  the 
cause  of  his  oppressed  and  persecuted  subjects  at 
Carcassonne,  and  laboring  on  that  injured  young 
man's  behalf.  He  was,  indeed,  a  man  of  generous 
mind,  and  honorable  temper;  with  a  cultivated  un- 
dcrstanding,  which  raised  him  as  far  above  the  cie 
dulky  of  Rome's  few  honest  followers  as  his  high 
sense  of  honor  did  above  the  cunning  craftiness  of 
Her  many  self-interested  flatterers.  That  he  was  an 
enlightened  man  :n  spiritual  things  we  cannot  vcn 


214  THE    LADY    OF 

M 

ture  to  hope:  his  name  comes  down  to  us  as  that 
of  a  gallant  warrior,  actuated  by  the  romantic  spirit 
of  chivalry;  an  elegant,  but  frivolous  poet;  a  king 
who  never  willingly  or  knowingly  acquiesced  in  the 
oppression  of  his  subjects  for  cjoscience'  sake;  and 
one  who  was  read}-  to  peril  his  life  in  defence  of  any 
that  he  deemed  a  just  cause.  Beyond  this,  we  can 
ascertain  nothing  :  he  was  greatly  misled  by  habits 
of  flattering  admiration  towards  women,  and  by  the 
general  laxity  then,  and  alas !  now,  too  character- 
istic of  regal  courts.  We  can  only  look  upon  him 
as  a  monarch  called  forth  to  defend  the  scattered 
fragments  of  the  riven  Church,  to  prove  how  vain 
was  the  help  of  man,  when  the  Lord  had  permitted 
the  terrible  Beast  of  prophecy  to  make  war  with  the 
saints,  and  for  a  time  to  overcome  them. 

The  publication  of  Simon's  tyrannical  decrees, 
issued  from  Pamiers  at  the  time  of  Count  Raymond's 
visit  to  Arragon,  greatly  tended  to  the  furtherance 
of  his  suit.  As  lord  of  Beziers  and  of  Carcassonne, 
de  Montfort  would  have  been  the  subject  of  Peter, 
and  his  first  duty  was  to  tender  the  homage  of  al- 
legiance to  his.  rightful  monarch;  but  so  far  from 
doing  this,  he  openly  proclaimed  himself  a  liege- 
man of  France,  and  with  eager  haste  proceeded  to 
supplant  whatever  savored  of  ancient  fidelity  to  the 
rightful  king.  Pedro  was  considered  to  be  in  b'gh 
favor  with  the  Pope,  who  had  always  regarded  him 
with  peculiar  good  will,  and  his  intercession  was 
considered  powerful  enough  to  cope  with  the  mighty 


THE    LADV    OF    LAVAUR.  215 

influence  of  de  Mont  fort  at  Rome  ;  the  more  reason- 
ably, as  it  could  be  plainly  shown  that  in  his  san- 
guinary progress  the  latter  had  made  the  well-being 
of  the  so-called  Church  a  very  minor  consideration 
indeed ;  being  intent  only  on  establishing  his  own 
authority,  and  enlarging  the  kingdom  of  France,  at 
the  expense  of  a  dutiful  son  of  that  church,  such  as 
Peter  of  Arragon  had  always  shown  himself  to  be. 
No  doubt  his  shutting  himself  up  with  a  handful  of 
personal  adherents  to  retain  a  grasp  on  the  con- 
quered Carcassonne,  when  Innocent  himself  had 
sounded  the  alarm  for  a  crusade  beyond  the  Pyre- 
nees, was  kept  in  view ;  and  the  fact,  that,  in  the 
last  province  which  he  had  both  invaded  and  devas- 
tated, Agenois,  no  taint  of  heresy  had  been  alleged 
to  prevail,  all  the  inhabitants  being  professedly 
Romanists,  made  exceedingly  against  the  supposed 
pious  devotion  of  the  Count.  That  any  actual  com- 
punction visited  the  papal  bosom,  for  the  cruel  suf- 
fering of  the  innocent  Albigenses,  it  would  be  hard 

D  CJ 

to  believe  :  that  any  softening  of  the  opposing  and 
self  exalting  spirit  which  warreth  against  God  and 
his  saints  took  place,  would  be  to  suppose  that,  for 
a  short  season,  Antichrist  forsook  his  seat  on  the 
seven-hilled  city.  We  must  refer  all  these  changes 
and  mutations,  overruled  as  they  were  and  are,  and 
always  shall  be,  by  the  sovereign  power  of  the  Most 
High,  to  the  wisdom  that  cometh  from  benea/h ; 
earthly,  sensual,  devilish  :  always  seeking  the  pre« 


yifi  THE    LADY    OF    LAVAUR. 

eminence,  and  always  thirsting  for  the  blood  of  th« 
aiartyrs  of  Jesus. 

One  thing  more  must  be  kept  in  view  :  it  appears 
(i  at  Count  Raymond  had  anew  placed  himself  un- 
der the  unreserved  and  unlimited  control  of  the 
Pope :  that  he  had  offered  a  pledge  to  go  to  the 
Holy  Land,  or  whithersoever  he  might  be  com- 
manded to  go,  leaving  his  son  to  inherit  his  posses- 
sions, whose  unshaken  fidelity  to  the  Roman  pontifi. 
cate  was  doubly  guaranteed  by  the  king  of  Arragon ; 
and  so  far  from  weakening,  the  plan  proposed  was 
calculated  to  strengthen  the  power  of  the  Pope ; 
who  could  not  but  feel  that,  with  all  his  wonderful 
daring,  and  all  his  most  unrivalled  craftiness,  he  was 
often  made  individually  of  less  account  by  his  own 
creatures  than  he  was  willing  to  admit.  In  the 
present  instance,  he  was  incited  to  act  a  part  rarely 
ventured  on  by  the  occupant  of  Peter's  feigned  seat ; 
to  try  the  power  of  a  Pope  against  the  spirit  of 
Popery, — to  raise  the  voice  of  the  Beast's  image 
against  those  who  gave  it  life,  and  motion,  and  ut- 
terance, and  at  whose  command  the  world  worship- 
ped it.  This  experiment  never  yet  succeeded  ;  the 
sharp  reprimands  of  Innocent  III.,  addressed  to  the 
fierce  and  arrogant  prelate  of  Narbonne,  and  the 
other  usurped  sees,  were  indeed  received  with  all 
•mtwiird  respect. :  but  when  the  council  assembled 
which  he  had  commanded  them  to  call  together,  for 
the  reparation  of  some  of  the  many  scandalous 
wrongs,  perpetrated  during  the  crusades,  against 


THE    LADY   OF    LAVADft.  il7 

such  ;is  held  allegiance  to  Rome,  and  the  restoration 
of  the  Counts  of  Toulouse,  Beam,  Fbix,  and  other 
excommunicate  lords,  to  their  rights,  temporal  and 
spiritual,  their  every  decree  was  in  direct  defiance 
alike  of  the  letter  and  of  the  spiiit  of  these  public 
instructions.  They  justified  all  that  was  there  con- 
demned; made  doubly  fast  all  that  they  were  told 
to  unloose:  renewed  their  insolent  sentences  of  ex- 
communication ;  and,  moreover,  rendered  to  the  Vat- 
lean  reasons  so  satisfactory  for  these  proceedings,  by 
means  of  that  subtle,  ever-working  machinery  that> 
making  Rome  its  centre,  has  for  many  centuries  con. 
vulsed,  and  in  a  great  measure  governed  the  whole 
world,  that  the  wretched  puppet  of  Satanic  rule 
again  veered  round,  and  granted  a  tacit  confirmation 
of  all  these  iniquitous  proceedings. 

The  relation  of  the  war,  in  a  military  point  of 
view,  becomes  at  this  juncture  exceedingly  interest- 
ing ;  but  with  wars  and  fighting  we  have  nothing  to 
do,  except  as  they  bear  on  the  history  of  the  perse- 
cuted saints.  The  king  of  Arragon,  justly  exaspe- 
rated at  such  double  perfidy,  no  longer  hesitated  to 
aid  in  person  the  aggrieved  loi-ds :  he  chose  out  a 
thousand  knights,  the  flower  of  his  army,  long  ac- 
customed to  battle  against  the  Moors  in  Spain,  «nd 
placing  himself  at  their  head,  joined  the  forces  of 
the  Languedocian  nobles,  now  prepared  to  give  bat- 
tle to  de  Montfort,  wheresoever  he  should  choose 
his  ground.  The  recruiting  brethren  of  Citeaux 
were  everywhere  on  the  alert ;  F«  *nee  poured  forth 
19 


2*8  THE    LADY    OF    LAVAtJR. 

ber  chivalry,  in  bright  and  terrible  legions  of  mail 
clad  horsemen,  the  great  strength,  in  those  days,  of 
a  hostile  force.  Squadron  after  squadron,  clad  in 
iron  mail,  and  most  formidably  armed  with  every 
weapon  of  destruction,  while  gold  and  silver  and 
gorgeous  housings  in  every  variety,  added  to  the  im- 
posing magnificence  of  their  army,  were  marshalled 
on  the  plains.  Seven  bishops,  in  all  the  harlot 
pomp  and  bravery  of  their  apostate  Church,  had 
joined  to  bless  in  solemn  mockery,  the  various  stand- 
ards of  this  embattled  host,  which  numbered  in  its 
ranks  but  too  many  representatives  from  every  coun- 
try over  which  the  idol  crucifix  bore  sway  :  and  then, 
followed  by  shoals  of  priestly  abettors,  they  pro- 
ceeded on  the  wonted  scent  of  blood.  It  was  truly 
a  fearful  war,  of  man  against  man  ;  of  Papal  vassals 
defending  the  fair  land  bequeathed  them  by  their 
fathers  against  papal  vassals,  who  sought,  on  any 
pretext,  to  shed  their  blood,  and  to  despoil  them  of 
those  possessions.  They  met  near  the  town  of  Mu- 
rct,  three  miles  from  Toulouse ;  de  Montfort  was 
victorious,  the  king  of  Arragon  was  slain  by  some 
who  had  bound  themselves  to  fight  with  none  but 
him ;  but  who,  by  surrounding  and  overpowering, 
succeeded  in  completing  what  may  well  be  called  a 
murder.  For  the  rest  of  the  routed  host,  not  one 
escaped  whom  the  spear  of  the  merciless  victor 
could  pierce,  or  his  mailed  hands  succeed  in  plung. 
ing  beneath  the  waters  of  the  Garonne,  which  that 
day  ran  r^d  w '  ,h  the  blood  of  thousands. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE    WEARING    OUT. 

u  PRINCE  of  the  kings  of  the  earth  "  King  of 
kings,  and  Lord  of  lords  ;"  these  are  among  the 
tnany  incommunicable  titles  of  the  Redeemer,  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  and  it  cannot  but  be  that  the 
enemy  who  usurps  his  power  and  authority  over  so 
vast  a  portion  of  his  nominal  subjects,  should  lay 
claim  to  these  high,  distinctive  names.  It  has  been 
so,  from  the  commencement  of  the  reign  of  the  de- 
veloped "  Man  of  Sin,"  even  to  our  day,  to  this  pe- 
riod, when  the  ruler  of  the  Vatican  received  from 
the  mighty  Prince  of  Rosh,  of  Meahech  and  Tubal, 
the  feudal  homage  of  kissing  his  ring  ;  and  when 
he  denounced  as  sore  rebellion  against  God,  the 
measures  taken  by  the  lofty  Czar  to  curb  the  power 
of  Rome.  In  this  world  of  change,  it  is  really  won- 
derful to  mark  the  unchanging  features  of  that 
/igantic  imposture  which  has  lorded  it  so  long  over 
God's  heritage  ;  and  which  is  destined  to  fall  at  last 
from  a  more  fearfully  daring  height  of  wickedness 
than  it  has  ever  yet  attained. 

In  this  usurped  character  of  "  Prince  of  the  kinga 


220  THE   WEARING  OTTT. 

of  the  earth,"  did  the  papacy  adjudge  the  gallant* 
king  of  Arragon  to  be  a  traitcr,  and  to  have  justly 
fallen  in  the  act  of  rebellion  against  its  power.  In- 
nocent, "  servant  of  the  servants  of  God,"  assuming 
to  dispose  at  will  of  the  kingdoms  of  the  world,  ever 
sought  to  place  his  heel  on  the  neck  of  refractory 
monarch s  ;  and  the  death  of  Peter,  falling  in  battle 
against  the  priest-led  crusade:  s,  could  not  but  be  an 
event  highly  favorable  to  his  assumptions;  nor  did 
they  fail  to  represent  it  as  a  direct  judgment  from 
above.  The  fact  of  the  royal  heir,  Don  Jayme,  be- 
ing actually  in  the  hands  of  de  Montfort,  to  whom, 
in  some  moment  of  infatuation,  his  father  had  con- 
fided him,  increased  the  exultation  of  one  party,  and 
the  dismay  of  the  other.  But  an  appeal  to  Rome, 
on  the  part  of  his  subjects,  vigorously  supported, 
and  secretly,  no  doubt,  aided  by  a  growing  jealousy 
of  de  Montfort's  immense  power,  proved  effectual : 
the  prince  was  restored,  and  allowed  to  ascend  his 
father's  throne.  Meanwhile,  though  Muret  was  so 
near  Toulouse,  that  the  perfect  victory  obtained 
there  seemed  to  decide  the  fate  of  the  capital,  it  was 
productive  of  no  important  results  to  the  victors. 
Satisfied  with  their  achievements,  and  deeply  dyed 
in  the  blood  of  those  who,  if  not  themselves  ac- 
cused of  heresy,  were  fighting  in  the  heretical  cause 
of  excommunicated  princes,  the  crusaders  quickly 
dispersed  themselves  after  the  battle  ;  and  whatever 
advantages  de  Montfort  m'ght  have  anticipated  from 
being  the  unresis'xl  master  of  the  field,  and  within 


THE  w  SAB  TNG  cmt.  221 

some  half-hour's  march  of  Toulouse,  he  was  ren« 
dered  unable  to  cany  out  his  designs,  by  seeing  his 
legions  melt  away,  until  only  a  skeleton  army  re- 
mained with  him  ;  while  the  new  legate  appointed 
to  succeed  Arnold  proved  a  poor  ally ;  for  he  in- 
stead of  pursuing  with  fire  and  sword  the  lords  of 
Toulouse,  of  Foix,  and  others  as  did  his  prede- 
cessor, persuaded  them  to  take  shelter  under  his 
protection,  and  made  peace  between  them  and  his 
church,  on  terms  exceedingly  advantageous  to  the 
latter ;  ruinous  and  disgraceful  to  them,  as  inde- 
pendent lords.  This  took  place  at  Narbonne ;  and 
Peter,  our  great  authority,  characterizes  it  as  a  pious 
fraud,  by  which  the  legate  cajoled  the  heretical 
leaders,  while  de  Montfort,  with  a  recruited  army, 
passed  unresisted  into  Agenois,  carrying  on  with 
very  little  hindrance,  the  work  of  cruelty  and  blood. 
Few  victims,  of  the  kind  which  they  most  panted 
after,  remained  to  glut  their  ferocious  hatred :  the 
Lord's  people  had  fallen  by  the  sword,  by  famine, 
and  by  the  miseries  of  hopeless  flight,  for  so  many 
days,  that  they  seemed  to  be  well  nigh  extinct. 
Yet,  occasionally,  a  company  was  collected,  worthy 
the  martyrdom  that  awaited  them,  and  who,  instead 
of  being,  like  their  less  suspected  countrymen, 
merely  slaughtered  in  an  ordinary  way,  were  burnt 
alive  with  all  the  solemnity,  and  all  the  joy,  that 
such  a  spectacle  was  calculated  to  call  forth.  Mu- 
rillac  was  one  of  the  places  so  happily  distinguished  ; 
and  Peter  do  Vaux-Cernay  thus  records  it.  "  I  must 
19* 


222  THE    WEARING    OUT. 

not  omit  to  state  that  we  found  there  seven  heretics, 
of  the  sect  called  Waldenses.  Being  conducted  to 
the  legate,  they  confessed  their  unbelief;  and  weie 
then  seized  by  our  pilgrims,  and  burned  with  un 
epeakable  joy." 

This  is  the  first  instance  of  our  finding  the  ancient 
nnd  truly  apostolic  Church  of  the  Waldenses  pro- 
viding victims  for  the  Alhigensic  persecution.  Dis- 
tinct in  their  origin,  their  history,  and  their  place  of 
abode,  these  were  yet  twin  branches  of  the  true 
Vine  ;  holding  one  Lord,  one  faith,  one  baptism ; 
and  ultimately  sharing  one  doom,  of  all  that  man's 
most  deadly  cruelty  could  inflict  on  earth :  all  that 
God  has  reserved  for  His  dear  children,  the  saints 
and  martyrs  of  Jesus,  in  heaven.  Success  appeared 
to  wait  on  the  steps  of  the  wretched  man  whose 
whole  life  was  devoted  to  this  most  awfully  wicked 
work  of  seeking  to  root  out  the  Church  of  Christ 
from  the  earth.  He  made  it,  indeed,  notoriously 
subservient  to  his  selfish  passions,  his  lust  of  plun- 
der and  of  power ;  hie  natural  cruelty  and  detesta- 
tion of  all  that  was  good  ;  but  though  on  many  oc- 
casions it  was  manifest  that  the  dragon's  vicegerent 
understood  the  baseness  of  Simon's  character  as  well 
as  the  dragon  himself  understood  his,  he  was  too 
able  and  too  successful  in  the  work  of  slaughter  to 
be  discarded  as  a  fitting  tool.  He,  theiefore,  re- 
mained unchecked  in  his  frightful  career  of  blood 
and  rapacity  ;  to  fall,  in  due  time,  beneath  the  aiua 
of  Almighty  vengeance. 


THE    WEARING    DOT.  2'<J3 

But  the  flock  of  the  Lord,  the  beautiful  and 
harmless  flock  that  had  so  long  been  pastured  in 
those  valleys,  where  now  were,  they  ?  Seven  years 
Irad  elapsed  since  the  first  outrage  was  committed 
•b\  attacking  Beziers ;  and  changed  as  was  the  face 
of  the  once  smiling  country,  far  more  changed  was 
its  spiritual  aspect.  What  the  apostate  Church 
called  heresy,  could  nowhere  be  found  :  the  light 
was  extinguished ;  the  gates  of  hell  had  to  all  ap- 
pearance prevailed  against  the  Church  of  Christ 
throughout  the  region  where  it  had  for  so  long  a 
period  flourished  in  peace. 

Behold  that  toil-worn  traveller,  who,  in  homely  ap- 
parel, and  with  a  pack  of  humble  wares  slung  from 
his  shoulders,  is  slowly  and  listlessly  pursuing  his 
way  along  a  path  once  well  defined  and  frequented, 
but  now  torn  up,  and  well-nigh  obliterated  by  con- 
tinual alternations  of  the  trampling  march,  and  the 
utter  desertion  that  must  needs  follow,  where  those 
who  proceeded  onward  left  not  alive  any  human 
being  within  reach  of  their  grasp.  He  seems  to 
know  it  well,  and  keeps  so  correctly  within  its  origi- 
nal boundaries  as  to  excite  the  attention  of  some 
few  scattered  laborers,  who  have  rebuilt  their  ruined 
cots,  and  are  tilling  the  deteriorated  soil.  These 
had  fled  to  the  mountain  caves,  or  otherwise  con- 
cealed themselves,  while  the  destroying  hosts  swept 
by  ;  and  now  they  are  again  on  the  site  of  their 
former  houses,  again  engaged  in  rural  occupation, 
and  one  might  h  >pe  that  it  is  with  them  as  ir.  days 


224  HIE   WEARWO   OUT. 

past,  when  the  candle  of  the  Lord  shone  upon  their 
tabernacle.  The  traveller  is  one  who  formerly  stood 
conspicuous  among  the  bold  teachers  of  Gospel 
truth,  in  that  neighborhood,  where  pure  religion  waa 
more  openly  countenanced,  and  the  doctors  of  the 
faithful  Church  more  freely  encouraged  than  in  most 
other  places  around  it.  He,  the  peddler,  now  bend- 
ing less  with  age  or  bodily  feebleness  than  with  sor- 
row, had  there  held  many  a  disputation  with  the 
assailants  of  the  faith,  and  put  to  silence  the  subtle 
sophistries  with  which  they  sought  to  beguile  the 
souls  of  his  people.  He  had  oft  been  the  honored 
guest  of  the  feudal  sovereign,  who  ruled  that  pro- 
vince ;  and  well  was  he  remembered  when,  in  his 
progress,  but  a  few  days  since,  he  presented  himself 
at  the  castle  gate  that  had  always  been  fJung  wide 
at  his  approach  ;  but  terror  and  dismay  overspread 
the  countenances  of  those  who  so  readily  recalled 
the  voice  and  features  of  one  concerning  whom  it  was 
doubtful  whether  he  had  perished  in  the  flames,  or 
fallen  by  the  sword  or  famine,  or  found  a  refuge  in 
some  distant  clime.  Word  was  speedily  brought  to 
the  Count  of  the  dangerous  guest  who  stood  with- 
out ;  and  he,  lately  reconciled  to  Rome,  and  deliv 
ered  from  the  ban  of  excommunication  on  a  pledge 
of  using  his  utmost  efforts  to  root  out  every  vestige 
of  heresy  wheresoever  he  should  detect  it,  was  for  a 
moment  in  doubt  whether  to  connive  at  the  escape  of 
a  teacher,  to  whom  his  masters  would  have  adjudged 
an  abode  in  the  deepest  dungeon  of  the  castle,  with 


THE    WEARING   OUT.  225 

.10  means  of  prolonging  life,  even  if  that  1'fe  were 
not  publicly  sacrificed  to  Rome.  A  better  feeling 
prevailed  ;  remembrance  of  the  happy  past,  f.ad  the 
knowledge  that  the  victim  of  persecution  was  a  l.oly 
man,  devoted  to  God  in  the  Gospel  of  His  Son,  and 
eminently  fruitful  in  every  good  word  and  work,  re- 
strained the  unhappy  noble  from  adding  to  his  own 
sin,  and  to  the  sorrows  of  a  helpless  exile  :  he  dis- 
patched a  knight  who  fully  understood  the  mat- 
ter, and  participated  in  his  feeling,  to  inform  the 
wanderer  that  the  inmates  of  the  castle  had  no 
need  of  his  merchandise,  nor  was  it  agreeable  to 
their  lord's  will  that  strangers  of  a  doubtful  aspect 
should  find  admittance  in  these  troublous  times, 
when  some  evil-disposed  persons  were  supposed  to 
be  creeping  abroad,  to  unsettle  the  minds  of  the 
people,  and  to  shake  their  allegiance  to  their  sove- 
reign lord  and  ruler,  the  vicegerent  of  God,  the  most 
holy  and  venerated  pontiff. 

All  this  was  spoken,  in  a  loud,  a  fierce,  and  a  de- 
cided voice,  in  the  hearing  of  those  who  stood  near  ; 
but  there  was  that  in  the  old  knight's  eye,  as,  with 
face  averted  from  the  rest  he  kept  it  steadfastly 
fixed  on  the  pastor's,  which  bospoke  a  grief  and  a 
sympathy  strangely  opposed  both  to  the  tenor  and 
the  tone  of  his  speech.  Touched  to  his  inmost  soul, 
the  preacher  meekly  bowed  submission  ;  and  with 
upraised  t  yes,  silently  invoking  the  blessing  that  ho 
dared  not  tc  utt  r  aloud,  he  turned  from  the  frowu« 


220  THE    WKAKIHG    OtTt. 

ing  battlements,  to  seek  a  lowlier  shelter  in  the  vala 
helovv. 

The  scattered  huts  among  which  he  now  passed 
were  occupied  by  a  race  altogether  unknown  to 
him  ;  probably  adventurers  from  France,  placed 
there  by  the  wily  de  Montfort,  to  supply  the  lack 
of  inhabitants  where  his  sword  had  cut  off  every 
living  thing.  With  these  he  sought  and  found  a 
supply  of  his  present  wants ;  bartering  the  small 
wares  of  his  pack  for  their  simple  fare.  But  ere 
long  the  scene  changed,  and  he  now  finds  himself 
among  familiar  faces,  though  intermingled  with 
many  perfectly  strange.  These  latter  were  stanch 
and  vigilant  adherents  to  the  papacy,  carefully  scat- 
tered about  the  land,  to  watch,  and  to  give  due  no- 
tice if  a  symptom  appeared,  in  public  or  in  private, 
either  of  the  retention  or  revival  of  heresy  in  any 
form  whatever. 

With  an  overflowing  heart  does  that  beloved 
teacher  approach  the  objects  of  his  former  care  ; 
and  quickly  is  he  recognized,  as  the  deep  pantings 
of  many  a  bosom  declare,  while  the  brow  perchance 
is  knitted,  to  discourage,  and  the  lead  bent  or  the 
eye  averted,  to  shun  him.  There  is  no  sign  of  wel- 
come, no  whispering  salutation  of  peace  :  nothing 
but  an  evident  dread,  lest  his  presence  should  lead 
to  their  destruction.  By  some,  .he  crucifix  is 
hastily  displayed,  as  a  token  that,  before  rmm  at 
least,  they  know  no  better  hope  than  such  lying 
vanities  can  impart ;  and  others,  by  a  loud  remark 


THE    WRARlMi    OUT.  22? 

to  a  neighboring  assistant,  convey   the  intimation 
that,  their  creed  is  that  which  of  old  they  abjured. 

Meanwhile,  a  group  of  children,  and  very  young 
persons,  gather  around  the  traveller,  demanding  to 
see  the  contents  of  his  pack,  which  he  readily 
spreads  before  them  ;  gazing  with  wistful  curiosity 
in  their  blooming  faces,  touched  as  some  among 
them  were  with  traces  of  earlv  suffering,  and  more 
than  one  or  two  exhibiting  scars  from  the  cuts  of 
a  merciless  sabre.  Among  those  who  bent  over 
the  scattered  treasures,  he  is  struck  by  the  counte- 
nances of  two  lovely  girls,  twins,  whose  close  resem- 
blance to  each  other  is  scarcely  greater  than  what 
both  bear  to  a  peasant  who  was  once  the  very  flower 
of  his  flock  in  that  district ;  and  well  he  remembers 
baptizing  twin  girls  of  hers  some  ten  years  pre- 
viously, and  sweet  is  the  recollection  of  the  season 
of  prayer  and  praise  that  marked  the  event.  A 
longing  desire  to  hear  of  her,  half  subdued  by  fear 
lest  the,  tale  of  apostasy  should  blight  his  once  con- 
fident hope  in  the  firm  faith  of  that  devoted  woman, 
leads  him  to  watch  every  movement  of  the  lively 
twins,  until  at  length  one  of  them,  selecting  an  arti- 
cle, holds  it  up,  demanding  its  price.  As  she  shakes 
back  the  wild  ringlet  from  her  brow,  the  resemblance 
becomes  more  striking  ;  and  he  answers  her  inquiry, 
adding,  "  If  your  mother,  young  maiden,  approves 
the  purchase,  we  shall  not  dispute  about  the  price." 
"  What  know  you  of  her  mother  '?"  asked  a  sinister- 
looking  young  man  who  stood  by  :  and  the  teacher. 


22B  THE   WEARING    OUT. 

fearing  for  theso  lambs  of  a  broken  U£d,  replies,  "I 
know  not  even  their  names,  or  yov.fs,  or  any  around 
me  :  but  the  young  should  seek  to  be  guided  by  pa- 
rental wisdom,  even  in  trifling  things."  "  She  haa 
no  mother,  happily  for  her  !"  WAS  the  remark  of  sev- 
eral of  the  bystanders :  and  the  girl  herself  hastily 
added,  "  My  mother  was  burnt  with  fifteen  other 
heretics,  by  the  holy  pilgrims,  four  years  ago." 
"  And  we  nre  good  Catholics,  and  hafe  all  heresy," 
said  the  other  twin. 

This  little  incident  told  a  tale  more  comprehen- 
sive, more  heart-rending,  than  many  a  day's  investi- 
gation might  have  done.  The  children  spoke,  evi- 
dently in  some  terror :  and  the  very  tone  in  which 
their  remarks  were  made  proved  them  to  have  been 
learned  by  rote.  The  peddler  gathered  his  wares  up, 
after  disposing  of  a  few,  and  crossing  in  heavy  silence 
the  vineyard,  he  perceived  the  father  of  the  twins 
engaged  at  his  work.  Resolved  to  discover  some 
ground  of  consolation  here,  he  neither  approached 
him  nor  attracted  his  attention :  but  seeking  present 
rest  in  a  secluded  corner,  awaited  the  close  of  day  ; 
then  to  seek  the  humble  dwelling  where  his  heart 
told  him  he  should  find  the  wonted  welcome. 

He  went :  the  father  was  seated  in  his  hut,  and 
around  him  the  few  children  left  of  a  large  family, 
one  of  whom  was  crippled  and  helpless  from  the 
effects  of  snvage  cruelty.  The  teacher  entered,  and 
threw  off  his  slouching  c*ip,  and  stood  fully  re- 
realed,  prepared  to  fold  in  a  paternal  embraco 


TtfE    U'RAUtN  \   OtTT.  'J2J* 

those  objects  of  his  solicitous  care.  Yhe  father 
sprang  from  his  seat,  and  with  frantic  gesture,  in 
tones  of  wild,  but  smothered  passion,  exclaimed, 
"  Begone  !  begone  !  Is  it  not  yet  enough  ?  has  not 
the  flame  been  fed  ?  has  not  the  sword  been  glutted  ? 
has  not  the  rack  enjoyed  its  prey  ?  Come  you  here 
to  mark  out 'the  victims  anew,  to  let  loose  the  blood- 
hounds— the  holy  pilgrims — the  crusaders — on  a 
ravaged  district  ?  Begone  to  your  concealment,  be 
it  Avhere  it  may  ;  and  God  help  you  safe  back  to  it ! 
but  leave  us,  leave  the  place,  we  are  changed  now  : 
we  are  loyal  to  begone  !" 

It  was  enough  :  the  pastor's  cup  of  sorrow  was 
full.  Farther  search  he  deemed  fruitless  for  any 
good  effect,  and  pregnant  with  peril  to  his  lost 
flock.  He  turned,  prepared  to  retrace  his  steps  to 
the  place  of  his  distant  refuge,  where,  in  rocks  and 
caves,  were  hidden  a  smaller  band  of  fugitives  to 
whose  persevering  entreaties,  and  almost  violence, 
he  owed  his  own  safety.  Sad  were  the  tidings  he 
must  bear  to  them,  of  many  whom  he  had  seen 
under  circumstances  that  scarcely  allowed  a  hope  to 
linger  in  his  breast,  as  to  their  fidelity  to  the  faith ; 
but  he  cast  himself  on  the  firm  rock  of  Christ's 
word,  in  reference  to  such  as  were  truly  his  sheep 
— "  I  give  unto  them  eternal  life,  and  none  is  able 
to  pluck  them  out  of  my  hand  ;"  and  thus,  sorrow- 
ful, yet  alway  rejoicing,  he  pursued  the  pathway 
home. 

Seldom  indeed  was  any  found  sufficiently  daring 
20 


230 

to  make,  however  disguised,  such  a  pilgrimage  ;  fot 
the  terrors  that  had  led  perhaps  not  a  few  into  open 
apostasy  from  the  faith  in  which  they  had  been 
brought  up,  prevailed  with  multitudes  to  whom  that 
faith  was  never  more  than  an  .object  of  careless 
toleration  or  involuntary  respect,  to  become  vigilant 
observers  of,  and  eager  informers  against,  suspected 
characters.  They  were  not  generally  actuated  by 
real  hostility,  but  wrought  upon  by  the  unspeakable 
dread  that  such  horrors  as  they  had  recently  wit* 
nessed  could  not  but  inspire  :  and  in  some  instances, 
no  doubt,  regarding  their  teachers  as  the  authors 
of  their  calamities,  they  entertained  a  vindictive 
feeling  which  their  spiritual  guides  well  knew  how 
to  keep  alive,  and  to  turn  to  their  own  account. 
Of  the  former  class  was  he  from  whose  abode  the 
pastor  had  been  rudely  expelled;  and  who  well 
knew  that  he  was  surrounded  and  watched  by  many 
of  the  latter.  One  effect,  and  indeed  the  most  fatal 
of  all,  was  the  cessation  of  all  scriptural  instruction 
in  the  families  of  those  who  themselves  still  cher- 
ished in  their  hearts  the  love  of  the  truth.  Chil- 
dren were  too  open  and  unguarded  to  be  intrusted 
with  the  perilous  secret :  they  were  carefully  looked 
after,  and  rigidly  questioned  by  the  priests  and 
friars  who  now  ruled  the  land  despotically  ;  and  to 
keep  them  in  utter  ignorance  of  their  parents'  senti- 
ments, to  help  them  to  forget  what  they  might 
alread*  have  learned,  and  to  inculcate  implicit  obe- 
dience tc  tl  e  papacy  in  all  its  branches,  was  ths 


THE    BEARING    OtTT.  231 

only  resource  of  those  who  still  looked  forward  to  a 
time  when  the  Lord  should  arise  on  their  behalf,  and 
restore  to  them  the  precious  privilege  of  worshipping 
Him  according  to  the  revelation  of  his  will,  and  the 
dictates  of  his  Spirit.  80  far  as  outward  appear- 
ance went,  true  religion  was  utterly  extinct  among 
them  ;  the  most  abject  submission  to  Popish  autho- 
rity having  succeeded  liberty  of  conscience.  The 
reconciled  lords  set  the  example  of  scrupulous  ob- 
servance  where  their  inmost  souls  scorned  and  de- 
tested the  puerile  follies,  unmeaning  mummeries, 
and  burdensome  restraints  by  which  they  were 
shackled.  The  manliness  of  simple  truth  had  won 
their  respect,  and  its  fruits  of  straight-forward  in- 
tegrity had  excited  their  admiration,  contrasted  as 
they  were  with  the  marked  opposites  in  the  clergy 
and  the  devotees  of  Rome  :  but  they  had  not  given 
their  hearts  to  God  ;  they  were  not  personally  par- 
takers in  the  like  precious  faith  with  those  whom 
they  had  esteemed  and  protected :  and  when  the 
alternative  alone  remained  to  them  of  indeed  losing 
all,  including  probably  their  lives,  for  the  Gospel's 
sake,  or  of  purchasing  security  in  their  possessions 
at  the  price  of  a  seeming  submission  in  all  tilings  to 
a  powei  whose  yoke  they  had  always  professed  to 
wear,  little  hesitation  could  be  expected.  Their 
subjects,  seeing  them  ostentatiously  forward  in  al! 
acts  of  outward  obsequiousness  to  the  priesthood, 
and  all  observances  of  Ron.ish  superstition,  felt  that 
no  hope  remained  for  them.  The  most  devoted  of 


232  THE   WKARlNtt    OTTT. 

the  simple  followers  of  Christ  had  perished  in  the 
flames,  on  the  gibbet,  by  the  sword,  or  the  rack ; 
others,  following  the  direction  given  to  the  early 
Church,  fled  from  the  scene  of  their  persecution  lo 
such  places  of  refuge  as  they  could  find ;  and  the 
remnant  sank  under  the  weight  of  calamities  that 
had  left  them  a  meiv  handful,  scattered  up  and 
down  in  what  was  now  an  enemy's  country.  Public 
teaching  was  of  course  unthought  of,  where  men 
dared  not  assemble  three  or  four  together  for  private 
exhortation  and  united  prayer,  lest  one  of  the  num- 
ber should  prove  a  traitor.  Ordinances  ceased  from 
among  them:  all  means  of  grace  were  withheld; 
and  the  light  of  the  Gospel  faded  away,  and  the 
tree  which  the  Lord  had  planted,  withered  and 
drooped,  and  cast  its  leaves,  a  bare,  desolate  monu- 
ment of  what  it  once  had  been. 

By  such  means  has  the  great  Mystery  of  iniquity 
always  prevailed  in  warring  against  the  saints,  where 
power  was  permitted  answerable  to  its  wicked  will, 
Its  dragon  voice  has  been  heard  to  the  uttermost 
bounds  of  the  earth,  saying  to  its  agents,  "  Arise, 
devour  much  flesh."  It  is  only  when  some  limit  is 
placed  to  its  external  working,  that  the  lamb's  horns 
are  exhibited  in  ostentatious  meekness  to  a  deceived 
world,  and  the  "  servant  of  the  servants  of  God" 
ceases  to  fulminate  decrees  >f  universal  slaughter, 
breathing  out  gentle  tones  of  humility  and  peace. 
We  have  se  ;n,  so  far,  its  operations  against  the  true 
followers  of  ihe  true  Lamb :  it  will  be  our  next  step 


THE    WEAHINJ    01  T.  233 

to  show  the  actual  embodying,  the  solemn  ratifica 
tion,  the  indelible  stamping  and  sealing  of  Papal 
Rome's  most  murderous  principles,  as  acted  out  in 
the  twelfth  century,  in  an  unrepealed  decree  of  the 
infallible  Church,  now  in  full  force  all  over  the 
world  ;  and  even  now,  thanks  to  the  desperate  in- 
fatuation of  nominally  Protestant  rulers,  in  full 
operation  HERE,  in  Great  Britain,  the  supposed  for- 
tress of  Protestantism  ;  the  chosen  and  favored,  but, 
alas  !  not  the  faithful  witness  among  all  nations,  of 
those  truths  for  which  her  noblest  and  her  lowliest 
children  yielded  with  equal  freeness  their  lives  at 
the  stake,  as  a  testimony  against  what  their  descend- 
ants are  warming  and  cherishing  in  their  bosoms, 
to  give  new  vigor  to  the  sting  already  aimed  at  their 
immortal  souls.  The  fourth  Council  of  Lateran  was 
held  during  this  pause  of  death,  and  we  cannot 
lightly  pass  it  over. 

The  ostensible  object  of  Lotharius  de  Signi  in 
assembling  the  twelfth  General  Council,  the  fourth 
that  met  in  the  Lateran  Palace,  and  thence  derived 
its  name,  was  to  revive  the  spirit  of  the  Eastern  ra- 
ther than  to  forward  the  interests  of  the  Western 
crusade.  The  latter  appeared  to  have  done  its 
work :  the  voice  of  the  Gospel  had  been  silenced, 
and  the  poor  remnant  of  a  torn  and  scattered  flock 
had  tied,  or  soncealed  themselves,  or  put  on  the 
semblance  of  conformity  with  what  they  loathed, 
to  save  themselves  and  t.heir  ]ittle  ones  from  the 
20* 


234  THE    WEARING    OUT. 

butcher's  knife.  It  was  enough  that  Simon  de 
Montfort  had  fixed  his  vulture  eye  upon  the  terri- 
tory, and  extended  as  he  could  his  grasp,  in  the 
character  of  the  church's  champion.  He  alone  was 
now  held  sufficient  to  cope  with  all  opposition  in 
that  quarter ;  and  some  danger  appeared  of  an  ap- 
proaching pause,  in  which  the  enthralled  monarchs 
of  Chistendom  might  have  leisure  to  contemplate 
their  fetters,  and  possibly  to  devise  a  way  of  freeing 
themselves  from  the  galling  yoke  of  Rome.  It  be- 
hooved the  haughty  and  subtle  pontiff  to  avert  such 
a  contingency  :  he  therefore  summoned  this  famous 
Council  to  meet  in  the  Great  City  which  ruleth  over 
the  kings  of  the  earth  ;  and  proudly  did  he  look 
down  upon  the  glittering  scene,  where  representa- 
tives of  every  nation  appeared,  to  own  the  vassal- 
age in  which  their  respective  sovereigns  were  con- 
tent to  abide  under  the  despotic  rule  of  the  self- 
exalted  Man  of  Sin.  There  were  present  in  that 
spacious  edifice  the  patriarchs  of  Constantinople 
and  of  Jerusalem,  an  ambassador  from  the  patriarch 
of  Antioch ;  seventy-four  metropolitan  primates, 
three  hundred  and  forty  bishops,  eight  hundred 
abbots  and  friars,  and  clergy  generally  of  the  higher 
orders  whose  numbers  defied  calculation.  These 
formed  the  ecclesiastical  portion  of  the  assembly ; 
while  of  crowned  monarchs  were  seen  the  selected 
representatives  of  the  Emperor  of  Constantinople, 
the  kings  of  Jerusalem,  of  England,  France,  Hungary, 
Arragon,  and  verj  many  others,  who  were  there  to 


THE    WEARING    OUT.  235 

yield  the  abject  assent  of  their  sovereigns  to  what- 
ever this  Italian  despot  might  deem  it  right  to  dic- 
tate. He  did,  in  fact,  alone  and  with  despotic  au- 
thority, draw  up  the  whole  series  of  chapters,  now 
known  as  the  decrees  of  that  famous  Council ;  and 
laid  them  before  the  assembled  delegates,  as  the 
mandate  of  one  whose  will  was  law.  Some  discon- 
tent is  reported  to  have  been  betrayed,  on  various 
points,  by  certain  of  the  members ;  and,  perhaps, 
the  pope's  arrogant  mode  of  proceeding  stirred  up 
the  resentment  of  some :  but  this  man  had  now 
for  seventeen  years  wielded  the  destinies  of  west 
and  east,  and  was  still  in  the  vigor  of  active  life, 
not  having  completed  his  fifty-third  year.  To  re- 
sist the  Sovereign  Pontiff,  and  that  Pontiff  Inno- 
cent III.,  in  matters  appertaining  to  the  Church 
of  which  he  was  justly  accounted  the  pillar — meet 
pillar  for  such  a  Church  ! — would  have  been  to  raise 
a  storm  that  none  cared  to  brave  : — therefore  were 
the  decrees  of  the  fourth  Lateran  Council  silently 
ratified,  without  discussion,  and  thenceforth  they  be- 
came part  and  parcel  of  the  laws  of  papacy  ;  as 
such,  distinctly  recognized,  and  forever  rendered  im- 
perative, by  ths  memorable  Council  of  Trent,  which 
was  the  first  General  Council  that  ever  embodied  in 
one  form,  and  solemnly  ratified  by  authority  assum- 
ing to  be  infallible,  the  vague,  subtle,  shifting  and 
evadible  dogmas  of  the  Romish  Apostasy. 

The    decrees  or  canons   of  the   Fourth    Lateran 
Coiinc  1  amounted  to  twenty,  bearing  on  various  sub- 


230  THE    WEAR  TNG    OUT. 

jects,  and  ostensibly  fran>ed  for  other  pu-poses  ;  but 
the  third  of  those  canons  seems  to  hare  breathed 
the  inmost  feelings  of  Lotharius  de  Signi's  hei.rt. 
It  is  entitled  "  De  Haereticis,"  and  its  object  is  to 
put  down,  thenceforth  and  f  irever,  all  opposition 
to  the  system  of  Rome  ;  to  pluck  up  and  to  destroy 
every  plant  of  God's  planting  that  should  peep 
above  the  ground  where  the  Great  Harlot  reigns. 
A  project  vain  as  impious ;  but  with  what  craft  and 
subtlety  dovised,  and  how  kee^y  poii.ted  at  the 
bosoms  of  the  poor  Albigenses,  a  sMght  examination 
may  assure  us.  At  the  same  time,  a  consciousness 
of  being  ourselves  included  in  the  class  here  treated 
of,  and  of  lying,  bona  fide,  under  the  same  sentence, 
suspended  only  because  the  Romish  arm  has  not 
yet  regained  sufficient  power  to  make  war  upon  us, 
and  to  crush  us,  such  consciousness  must  add  a 
deeper  interest  to  the  perusal  of  this  infamous  canon, 
which  we  will  give  entire. 

"  WE  excommunicate  and  anathematize  every  her- 
esy which  exalteth  itself  against  this  holy,  orthodox, 
and  catholic  faith,  which  we  have  set  forth  above  ; 
condemning  all  heretics,  by  whatsoever  names  they 
may  be  reckoned  ;  who  have  indeed  divers  faces, 
but  their  tails  are  bound  together,  for  they  make 
agreement  in  the  same  folly.* 

"  Let  such  persons,  when  condemned,  be   left  to 

.  *  This  allusion  to  Samson's  foxes,  having  their  taiiS  tied 
together  with  firebrands,  was  a  favorite  figure  of  Pope  Inno- 
cent's, as  applied  to  the  nobles  of  Languedoc. 


THK    WEARING    ODT.  237 

the  secular  powers  who  may  be  present,  to  bo  pun- 
ished in  a  fitting  manner ;  those  who  are  of  the 
clergy  being  first  degraded  from  their  orders :  so 
that  the  goods  of  such  condemned  persons,  if  they 
shall  be  laymen,  be  confiscated  ;  but  in  the  case  of 
clerks,  be  applied  to  the  churches  from  which  they 
derived  their  stipends. 

"  But  let  those  who  are  only  marked  with  sus- 
picion, be  smitten  with  the  sword  of  anathema,  and 
be  shunned  by  all  men  until  they  make  proper  sat- 
isfaction ;  unless,  according  to  the  grounds  of  sus- 
picion, and  the  quality  of  the  person,  they  shall 
have  demonstrated  their  innocence  by  a  proportion- 
ate purgation.  So  that  if  they  shall  persevere  in 
excommunication  for  a  twelvemonth,  thenceforth  let 
them  be  conde'mned  as  heretics.  And  let  the  secu- 
lar powers,  whatever  offices  they  may  discharge, 
be  admonished  and  induced,  and,  if  need  be,  com- 
pelled by  ecclesiastical  censure,  that,  as  they  desire 
to  be  reputed  and  accounted  faithful,  so,  for  the 
defence  of  the  faith,  they  publicly  set  forth  on  oath 
that  to  the  utmost  of  their  power,  they  will,  bona 
fide,  strive  to  exterminate  from  the  lands  subject  to 
their  jurisdiction,  all  heretics  pointed  out  by  the 
church  ;  so  that  wheresoever  any  person  is  advanced, 
cither  to  temporal  or  spiritual  power,  he  be  bound  to 
Confirm  this  decree  with  an  oath. 

"  But  if  any  temporal  lord,  being  required  and 
admonished  by  the  church,  shall  neglect  to  cleanse 
his  country  o'  his  heretical  filth,  let  him  be  bound 


238  THK    WEARING    OU7. 

with  the  c'.ain  of  excommunication  by  the  metro 
politan  and  other  co-provincial  bishops.  And  if  he 
shall  scorn  to  make  satisfaction  within  a  year,  let 
this  be  signified  to  the  supreme  pontiff ;  that,  thence- 
forth, lie  may  declare  his  vassals  absolved  from  their 
fidelity  to  him,  and  may  expose  his  land  to  be  oc- 
cupied by  the  Catholics,  who,  the  heretics  being  ex- 
terminated, may  without  contradiction  possess  it,  and 
preserve  it  in  the  purity  of  the  faith :  saving  the 
right  of  the  chief  lord,  so  long  as  he  presents  no 
obstacle,  and  offers  no  hindrance  in  this  matter :  the 
same  law,  nevertheless,  being  observed  concerning 
those  who  have  not  lords  in  chief. 

"  But  let  the  Catholics  who,  having  taken  the 
sign  of  the  cross,  have  girded  themselves  for  the 
extermination  of  the  heretics,  enjoy  the  same  indul- 
gence, and  be  armed  with  the  same  holy  privilege, 
as  is  conceded  to  those  who  go  to  the  assistance  of 
the  Holy  Land. 

"  But  we  decree  also,  that  the  believers,  the  re- 
ceivers, the  defenders,  and  abettors  of  the  heretics, 
lie  under  excommunication  :  firmly  determining  that 
if  any  one,  after  he  has  been  marked  with  excom- 
munication, shall  refuse  to  make  satisfaction  within 
a  twelvemonth,  he  is  thenceforth  of  right  in  very 
deed  infamous,  and  be  not  admitted  to  public  offices 
or  councils ;  nor  to  elect  any  person  for  any  thing 
of  the  sort,  nor  to  give  evidence.  Let  him  also  be 
intestable,  so  as  neither  to  have  power  to  bequeathe, 
aor  to  siicc-.'gd  to  an  inheritance. 


•"HE    WEARING    OUT.       .  239 

"  Morrover,  let  no  man  be  obliged  to  answer  him  in 
any  matter,  but  let  him  be  compelled  to  answer  oth- 
ers. If  haply  he  be  a  judge,  let  his  sentence  nave  nfl 
force,  nor  let  any  causes  be  brought  for  his  hearing. 
If  he  be  an  advocate,  let  not  his  pleading  be  admitted. 
If  a  notary,  let  the  instruments  drawn  up  by  him  be 
invalid,  and  be  condemned  with  their  damned  author. 
And  we  charge  that  the  same  be  observed  in  similar 
cases.  But  if  he  be  a  clerk,  let  him  be  deposed  from 
every  office  and  benefice,  that  where  there  is  the  great- 
er fault,  the  heavier  vengeance  may  be  exercised. 

"  But  if  any  shall  fail  to  shun  such  persons  after 
they  have  been  pointed  out  by  the  church,  let  them 
be  compelled  by  the  sentence  of  excommunication 
to  make  fitting  satisfaction.  Let  the  clergy  by  no 
means  administer  the  sacraments  of  the  Church  to 
such  pestilent  persons,  nor  presume  to  commit  them 
to  Christian  burial,  nor  receive  their  alms  nor  obla- 
tions :  otherwise  let  them  be  deprived  of  their  office, 
to  which  let  them  never  be  restored  without  the 
special  indulgence  of  the  Apostolic  See.  In  like 
manner  any  regulars  on  whom  also  this  may  be  in- 
flicted, that  their  privileges  in  that  diocese,  in  which 
they  shall  have  dared  to  perpetrate  such  excesses,  be 
not  preserved. 

"  But  because  some,  under  the  semblance  of  piety 
but  denying  the  power  thereof,  as  the  Apostle  says, 
Rssxime  to  themselves  the  authority  of  preaching, 
when  the  same  Apostle  says,  '  How  shall  they  preach 
9Jcept  they  be  sent?'  let  all  who,  being  prohibited 


240  THE    WKAK1NC    I  )T. 

Or  not  sent,  shall  presume  publicly  or  privately  to 
usurp  the  office  of  pleaching,  be  bound  with  the 
chain  of  excommunication,  and  unless  they  immedi- 
ately repent,  they  shall  be  smitten  with  other  suita- 
ble punishment. 

"  We  Add,  moreover,  that  every  archbishop  or 
bishop  shall  either  by  himself,  his  archdeacon,  or 
other  honest  and  suitable  persons,  twice,  or  at  least 
once  every  year,  go  round  his  own  parish  [diocese] 
in  which  there  shall  be  a  report  that  heretics  are 
dwelling ;  and  there  shall  compel  three  or  more 
men  of  credible  testimony,  or  if  it  shall  seem  expe- 
dient, the  whole  neighborhood,  to  swear,  that  if  any 
one  shall  know  any  heretics  there,  or  any  persons 
holding  secret  conventicles,  or  differing  from  the  or- 
dinary conversation,  life  and  morals  of  the  faithful, 
he  shall  endeavor  to  point  them  out  to  the  bishop. 
But  the  bishop  himself  shall  convoke  the  accused  into 
his  presence,  who,  unless  they  shall  clear  themselves 
of  the  crime  alleged  against  them,  or,  if  after  hav- 
ing cleared  themselves  they  shall  relapse  into  their 
former  perfidy,  let  them  be  punished  according  to 
the  canons.  But  if  any  of  them,  with  damnable 
obstinacy,  rejecting  the  obligation  of  an  oath,  shall, 
perhaj  s,  bo  unwilling  to  swear,  let  them  on  that 
very  ground  be  reckoned  as  heretics. 

"  We  will,  therefore,  and  command,  and  in  virtue 
of  obedience  strictly  enjoin,  that  for  the  due  per- 
formance of  these  things,  the  bishops  shall  diligently 
watch  throughout  their  dioceses,  if  they  wish  to  es- 


THE     WEARING    007.  241 

cape  canonical  vengeance ;  for  if  any  bishop  shalj 
have  been  negligent,  or  remiss,  in  purifying  his  dio- 
cese from  the  leaven  of  heretical  pravity,  when  it 
shall  appear  by  certain  proofs,  let  him  be  deposed 
from  his  episcopal  office,  and  let  another  fit  person 
be  substituted  in  his  place,  who  may  be  bo.h  willing 
and  able  to  confound  heretical  pravity." 

The  most  cursory  perusal  of  this  document  can 
scarcely  fail  to  excite  astonishment  at  the  masterly 
skill  with  which  it  is  framed  in  reference  to  the  sin- 
gle object  in  view  :  a  more  detailed  examination  will 
reveal  such  deep  thought,  contrivance  and  perfection 
of  cruel  craft  as  may  rarely  be  met  with  in  the  com- 
plicated machinery  of  human  crime.  Here  we  see 
the  quarry  marked  for  destruction,  surrounded  on 
all  sides,  pressed  closer  and  closer  together  in  the 
helplessness  of  public  exposure  ;  every  possible  av- 
enue of  escape  barred  up  ;  and  the  victims  ready  to 
be  singled  out  successively  for  destruction  at  the 
will  of  their  slaughterers.  This  canon  was  no  newly- 
devised  plan  of  de  Signi's  ;  he  had  acted  upon  it  for 
a  long  course  of  years,  with  deadly  success ;  and 
now,  as  if  conscious  that  his  end  was  not  far  distant, 
he  endowed  the  Church  with  this  rich  device,  that 
Ihe  mischief  might  survive  him,  and  prevail  against 
the  people  of  God  even  to  the  end  of  that  anti-chris- 
tian  empire  which  still  exists,  and  gathers  daily  fresh 
supplies  of  vigor,  preparing  to  reassert  its  terrible 
dominion  over  us. 

In  the  first  clause  of  the  canon,  we  find  a  refer- 
21 


242  THE    WEARING    OUT. 

encc  made  to  the  faith  as  already  set  forth  as  ortho- 
dox :  lliis  included  the  whole  system  of  papal  abom- 
ination ;  for  though  the  doctrine  of  an  actual  change 
in  the  substance  of  the  bread  and  wine  had  for  some, 
time  been  enforced  as  an  article  of  belief,  it  was  this 
Council  that  established  the  monstrous  figment, 
under  the  newly-coined  name  of  Transubstantiation. 
All  who  should  question  any  point  of  the  Romish 
creed  are  here  denounced  as  heretics,  and  at  once 
condemned  to  be  left  to  the  secular  power  ;  that  is 
to  say,  to  the  common  executioner.  All  the  rest 
provide  for  their  discovery  and  seizure. 

But  some  may  be  merely  suspected,  no  proof  be- 
ing adducible  of  their  heresy  :  these  are,  on  any 
vague  charge  or  surmise  of  the  sort,  to  be  laid  under 
the  curse  of  the  Church,  until  they  prove  their  in- 
nocence or  make  their  peace  by  some  great  gift, 
proportioned  to  their  means.  One  year  is  allowed 
for  this,  after  which  they  become  subject  to  capital 
punishment;  and  every  prince,  potentate,  magistrate, 
land-owner,  all  who  hold  property,  or  exercise  offi- 
cial power,  must  be  bound  by  a  solemn  oath  to  use 
every  effort  for  the  extermination  of  such  heretics 
within  their  respective  jurisdictions.  Temporal 
lords,  under  which  title  are  included  all  the  kings 
and  emperors  of  Christendom,  are  placed  under  the 
suiveillance  of  their  metropolitans,  to  whom  is  com- 
mitted the  power  of  excommunicating  them,  should 
they  show  any  symptom  of  reluctance  in  this  exter- 
minating work  ;  if,  at  the  year's  end  the  tempo?'aj 


THE    WEARIJNfi    OUT.  243 

ruler  has  not  given  the  required  satisfaction,  by 
drawing  the  sword  on  his  own  subjects,  he  is  to  be 
reported  to  the  Pope,  whose  part  it  is  to  absolve 
his  people  from  their  allegiance,  and  to  make  over 
his  territories  to  the  first  invader,  who  closes  with 
the  pontiff's  terms.  In  our  day,  this  menace  falls 
but  lightly  on  the  ear :  far  different  it  was  in  the 
times  of  the  crusaders — far  different  it  will  yet  be, 
if  Rome  pursues  much  farther  her  present  unresisted 
course  of  aggrandizement. 

The  temporal  lords  being  thus  assured  of  excom- 
munication, deposition,  and  utter  destruction,  should 
they  fail  in  carrying  out  to  the  uttermost  the  san- 
guinary will  of  the  Church,  we  next  find,  after  a 
short  clause  assuring  eternal  life  to  all  who  shall 
make  war  upon  them,  how  suspected  believers  iu 
the  innocence,  receivers  and  defenders  of  the  per- 
sons, and  abettors  of  the  deeds  of  God's  people,  are 
to  be  dealt  with.  It  is  of  great  moment  to  mark 
this :  they  always  are,  comparatively,  a  little  flock 
in  the  midst  of  an  ungodly  world,  and  their  security, 
humanly  speaking,  lies  in  the  toleration  extended  to 
them  by  the  great  mass  who  themselves  are  aliens 
from  God,  naturally  disposed  to  hate  the  righteous, 
but  restrained  and  providentially  induced  to  offer 
them  no  harm,  or  even  to  embrace  their  cause, 
though  not  on  scriptural  grounds,  when  they  are  as- 
sailed by  persecution.  Such  was  especially  the  case 
with  those  against  whom  this  atrocious  decree  was 
directly  pointed  in  its  author's  time ;  and  it  is  mar* 


244  THE    WEARING    OUT. 

vellous  with  what  settled  purpose,  what  consummate 
management  he  provides  against  the  contingency. 
A  brother,  for  instance,  not  himself  walking  in  the 
same  good  way,  might  feel  loth  to  betray,  to  de- 
nounce, to  deliver  up  to  torture  and  to  death,  the 
companion  of  his  infancy,  his  own  mother's  son: 
should  he  fail  to  do  it,  what  follows  ?  on  the  first 
suspicion,  excommunication  ;  and  after  a  while,  the 
brand  of  infamy :  suspension  from  every  office,  the 
deprivation  of  every  means  of  subsistence,  inability 
to  bequeathe  to  his  children  what  he  may  have,  or  to 
avail  himself  of  any  inheritance  that  may  fall  to  his 
lot.  In  this  matter  we  see  the  fierce  persecuting 
pope,  like  a  bloodhound  on  the  track,  following  up 
his  prey  with  a  fiery  eagerness  that  nothing  can 
control.  The  criminal,  the  wretch  who  shall  dare  to 
screen  his  brother  from  the  rack  and  flame,  is  to  be 
a  spectacle  and  an  abhorrence  to  all  men.  He  is  to 
be  compelled  to  pay  whatever  is  demanded  of  him 
by  any  profligate  claimant,  but  he  cannot  sue  in  a 
debt,  however  just ;  if  a  judge,  he  may  not  sit ;  if 
an  advocate,  he  may  not  plead ;  if  a  notary,  his  in- 
struments are  void  ;  and  so  of  whatsoever  calling  he 
may  follow.  Starvation  is  his  lot.  Moreover,  those 
who  shall  fail  to  aid  in  thus  heaping  ruin  on  the 
heads  of  the  suspected  defenders  of  suspected  here- 
tics, are  to  share  their  sentence  of  excommunication  ; 
to  be  denied  the  sacraments,  without  which  they  be- 
lieve they  cannot  possibly  be  saved ;  to  have  their 
alms  rejected,  the  purchase-money  for  heaven ;  and 


THE    WEARING    OUT.  245 

when  dead,  to  be  cast  out  as  dogs,  denied  what  a 
Romanist  holds  so  indispensable — Christian  burial. 
Surely  the  wit  of  man  never  devised  a  more  perfect 
system  of  frightful  espionage.  But  more  is  in  re- 
serve :  full  well  was  the  efficacy  of  a  preached  Gos- 
pel known  to  its  enemies,  and  so  long  as  men  were 
allowed  to  set  forth  a  crucified  Saviour  as  the  solr 
hope  of  the  sinner,  so  long  would  sinners  be  found 
to  lay  hold  on  that  hope,  and  to  cast  away  the  jug- 
gling deceits  of  Rome.  Accordingly,  summary  pun- 
ishment was  decreed,  on  a  gross  perversion  of  Scrip- 
ture, to  all  such  teachers  :  no  year's  probation  being 
here  allowed,  but  "suitable,"  that  is  to  say,  capital, 
punishment  inflicted,  unless  they  immediately  re- 
pented ;  which,  of  course,  could  only  be  manifested 
by  a  public  recantation  of  all  that  they  had  taught. 
Then  comes  the  inquisitorial  proceeding,  soon  after- 
wards carried  to  such  deadly  perfection  under  Dom- 
inic and  his  friars,  who,  together  with  the  Francis- 
cans, received  the  confirmation  of  their  establish- 
ment from  this  very  council.  Under  the  direction 
of  the  prelates,  a  cordon  of  spies  is  drawn  round 
every  spot  where  even  by  possibility  heresy  may 
lurk ;  and  should  any  individual  hesitate  to  swear 
that  he  will  become  an  informer  against  his  own 
flesh  and  blood,  he  is  for  that  reason  to  be  accounted 
a  heretic  himself.  One  only  possible  hope  seemed 
to  remain  for  the  hunted  victim,  and  that  a  very  for- 
lorn one ;  but  while  it  existed  it  must  be  provided 
againiit.  So  great  an  anomaly  as  a  merciful  man  in 
21* 


^46  THE    WEARING    OUT. 

the  office  of  a  Romish  prelate  could  scarcely  be 
looked  for ;  but  if  one  who  was  capable  of  compas 
sionate  feelings  should  be  there  found,  or  if  God  in 
his  goodness  touched  the  heart  of  a  persecutor  with 
compunction,  the  work  might  experience  some  hin- 
drance— the  escape  of  some  forlorn  believer  might 
be  connived  at.  Accordingly,  these  higher  orders 
must  be  reminded  that  they  themselves  were  but 
the  vassals  of  "  the  Servant  of  the  servants  of  God," 
the  meek  and  pious  pontiff:  and  that  any  tiling 
which  he,  on  the  report  of  those  secret  spies  by 
whom  the  other  spies  were  surrounded,  might  con- 
strue into  negligence,  would  be  visited  by  the  thun- 
ders, the  terrors  of  which  they  well  knew  ;  and  in- 
volve them  in  the  fate  of  their  appointed  victims. 

Such  was,  such  IS,  the  law  bequeathed  as  a  legacy 
by  Lotharius  de  Signi  to  the  Church  of  which  he 
was  the  head,  and  remaining  in  full  force  to  this  day. 
The  papacy  considers  as  its  lawful  subjects  all  who 
have  been  baptized  into  the  Christian  faith,  whether 
the  profess  allegiance  to  Rome  or  not :  we,  our 
Queen,  our  nobles,  our  countrymen,  are  all  regarded 
as  in  a  state  of  prosperous  rebellion,  fully  amenable 
to  these  laws,  and  to  be  visited  with  their  direst 
vengeance  whensoever  Protestantism  becomes  the 
weaker  party.  Meanwhile,  we  will  continue  our 
narrative,  and  endeavor  to  show  with  what  fatal  effi 
cacy  the  system  wrought  its  cruel  purpose  against 
the  half-reviving  Church  of  Christ  in  the  district 
of  J  <angue<!oc.  We  left  them,  indeed,  in  a  stat« 


THK    WEARING    OUT.  24"» 

of  seeming  extinction,  but  the  wily  Pope  judged 
rightly  when  he  foresaw,  in  the  dim  future,  new 
spectres  rising,  and  fresh  victims  ready  to  yield 
their  lives  up  for  the  testimony  of  Jesus  ;  and  against 
them,  to  the  end  of  time,  he  thus  prepared  a  ma- 
chinery of  destruction. 

We  have  already  noticed  that,  lamentable,  «.nd, 
seemingly  complete,  as  was  the  overthrow  of  the 
Church  of  Christ  in  the  country  of  the  Albigeois,  it 
pleased  God  that  a  temporary  revival  should  take 
place,  ere  the  light  was  utterly  extinguished.  The 
Council  of  Lateran  had,  as  we  have  seen,  labored  to 
turn  once  more  the  torrent  of  crusading  violence 
towards  Palestine,  which,  for  various  causes,  was  a 
more  convenient  field  whither  to  dispatch  their  vas- 
sal-kings and  armies.  At  the  same  time,  they  heard 
and  discussed  an  appeal  from  Count  Raymond,  who 
urgently  pleaded  his  cause,  and  besought  the  restitu- 
tion of  his  rightful  possessions.  S6me  favor  was 
shown  to  him,  but  de  Montfort's  usurpation  of  his 
principal  titles  and  dominions  was  confirmed ;  thus 
rendering  the  sanguinary  conqueror  doubly  secure  in 
his  position.  It  was  to  this,  principally,  that  the  re- 
appearance of  true  religion  in  places  whence  it 
seemed  to  have  been  wholly  and  finally  exiled,  might 
be  traced.  De  Montfort  and  Arnold  renewed  their 
contest  for  the  sovereignty  of  Narbonne,  in  the  spirit 
of  men  who  have  only  to  divide  the  spoil,  fearing  no 
farthei  bar  to  their  acquisitions.  The  count  forcibly 


248  THE    WEARING    OUT. 

planted  his  standard  of  authoi  ty  m  Narbonne; 
(he  Archbisliop  excommunicated  him ;  de  Montfort 
laughed  at  his  ban,  and  threw  down  his  fortifications  ; 
and  in  this  way  the  several  parties  became  so  occu- 
pied, and  found  so  much  for  their  respective  followers 
to  do,  that  the  persecuted  church  lifted  up  its  head 
again  in  the  wilderness,  which,  spiritually  at  least,  be- 
gan to  rejoice  and  to  blossom  as  the  rose,  before  the 
divided  enemy  had  leisure  to  cast  a  look  towards  it. 
Such  as  were  of  the  army,  of  course  flocked  round 
the  standards  to  which  they  were  attached :  the 
warlike  Archbishop  did  not  lack  adherents  of  this 
caste ;  nor  was  the  excommunicated  layman  without 
a  zealous  band  of  ecclesiastical  partisans,  some  goad- 
ed on  by  envy  of  Arnold's  high  exaltation,  and  re- 
sentment at  his  intolerable  pride ;  others  allured  by 
the  good  things  that  de  Montfort  held  in  his  gift. 
The  disunion  was  general ;  while  the  third  party, 
the  rightful  lords  of  what  these  robbers  were  fight- 
ing over,  secretly  strengthened  the  hands  of  their 
loyal  retainers,  prepared  to  take  advantage  of  any 
favorable  turn  in  the  current  of  events. 

It  was  then  that,  filled  with  holy  zeal,  the  teach- 
ers who  had  been  driven  from  their  flocks  returned 
to  look  after  ';hose  few  sheep  in  the  wilderness  who 
had  hitherto  hidden  themselves,  but  now  ventured 
to  come  forth  at  the  shepherd's  well-known  voice. 
Then  mio-ht  be  seen  the  father  of  those  fair  twin 

O 

girls,  the  smile  of  pleasure  on  his  lip,  the  tear  of 
fond  regret,  not  unmixed  with  remorse,  trembling  in 


THE    WEARING   OtTT,  248 

fits  eye,  ami  the  lurking  shade  of  watchful  doubt  yet 
hugering  on  his  countenance  as  the  frequent,  rapid 
ht  the  en  trance -door)  listening  with  deep 
to  the  pathetic  exhortations  of  the  now 
welcomed  preacher,  as  he  set  before  the  children 
the  preciousness  of  those  truths  for  which  their 
mother  had  died.  How  changed  is  the  expressicn 
U  those  young  faces,  since  they  importuned  the 
Deeming  pedler  for  a  sight  of  his  glittering  wares! 
Humble,  thoughtful,  earnest,  and  full  of  deepest 
reverence,  their  countenances  bespeak  emotions  that 
the  teacher  confidently  trusts  have  been  excited  by 
the  Holy  Spirit ;  and  he  doubts  not  but  that,  if  tribu- 
lation and  persecution  should  again  arise  because  of 
the  word,  the  rescued  lambs  before  him,  and  their 
heart-smitten  father,  will  be  found  confessing  before 
men  Him  whom  they  were  taught  in  earliest  infancy 
to  love,  as  the  gracious  friend  of  little  children,  and 
to  whom  they  now  come,  with  a  better  understand- 
ing of  the  blessed  privilege,  to  take  his  yoke  upon 
them,  and  to  learn  of  him. 

Many  a  lowly  cottage  displayed  some  similar 
scene ;  and  in  mansions  of  more  lordly  aspect  ad- 
mission was  sometimes  found  for  the  wayfaring 
instructor  of  former  days,  and  more  than  connived 
at  by  those  in  authority.  The  latter  instances  were, 
however,  less  frequent :  the  principal  work  was  car- 
ried on  in  rural  districts,  or  in  the  more  obscure 
quarters  of  such  towns  as  were  not  occupied  by  the 
enemjf  's  'orces.  In  every  place,  it  appeared 


250  THE   WfcAHirsG    OtTT. 

God  had  still  a  remnant  to  be  summoicd  ovt  of 
Great  Babylon,  and  wheresoever  even  in  the  sonl 
of  one  of  the  humblest  peasants  or  artisans  a  good 
work  had  been  begun,  there,  we  well  know,  the  Lord 
would  finish  it.  Kings  and  their  mailed  armies,  pre- 
lates with  their  far  more  formidable  hosts  of  cowled 
priests,  were  but  unconscious  instruments,  carrying 
out  the  ends  that  were  of  God  appointed,  and  which 
they  especially  labored  to  defeat ;  even  de  Montfort 
and  Arnold  Amalric  were  now  uniting  in  the  strange 
work  of  reviving  the  Gospel,  by  attracting  the  atten- 
tion and  engaging  the  services  of  those  who  should 
have  been  employed  in  watching  against  the  dread- 
ed heresy,  instead  of  taking  arms  respectively  on 
behalf  of  the  knight  and  the  priest. 

Sweet  it  was,  and  deeply,  awfully  solemn,  the  re- 
assembling of  some  scattered  little  congregation  in 
their  secret  nook  of  meeting,  around  the  teacher 
whom  they  never  again  expected  to  see :  some 
scarcely  even  daring  to  desire  it.  There  were  va- 
cant places  in  those  assemblages  the  former  occu- 
pants of  which  had  ascended  from  the  blazing  fires 
of  martyrdom  to  their  prepared  seats  in  heaven  ; 
and  never  had  the  union  been  so  perfect,  never  had 
the  communion  been  so  deeply  realized  between  the 
militant  and  the  triumphant  church,  as  now  that  the 
father  lifted  his  tearful  eyes  from  the  place  where 
formerly  sat  his  listening  child,  the  husband  from 
that  where  the  wife  of  his  bosom  once  reclined, 
the  loving  daughter  from  the  seat  on  which  long 


TttE    WKAttMrt   Offt.  251 

rested  her  revered  parent,  to  seek  that  heaven,  that 
holy  city,  the  Ne\r  Jerusalem,  as  yet  too  far  above 
the  reach  of  mortal  ken,  there  to  recognize,  as  it 
Were,  the  form  so  long  beloved  on  earth  ;  with  the 
delicious  assurance  in  their  souls  concerning  them, 
"  They  shall  hunger  no  more,  neither  thirst  any 
more,  neither  shall  the  sun  light  on  them  nor  any 
heat.  But  the  Lamb  which  is  in  the  midst  of  the 
throne  shall  feed  them,  and  shall  lead  them  to  foun- 
tains of  living  waters  ;  and  God  shall  wipe  away  all 
tears  from  their  eyes." 

It  was  thus  that  many  a  weak  hand  was  strength* 
ened,  many  a  feeble  knee  confirmed,  and  many  a 
wandering  foot  brought  back  to  the  straight  path  of 
sanctified  suffering,  leading  to  eternal  glory.  Some 
there  were,  who,  like  Esau,  might  have  been  tempt- 
ed to  sell  their  heavenly  birthright,  if  not  for  a  f;iir 
mess  of  the  world's  attractive  pottage,  yet  for  pres- 
ent security  from  sufferings  that  flesh  feels  it  very 
hard  to  brave :  these  had  the  glorious  reality  of 
unseen  and  eternal  things  so  vividly  set  before  them, 
combined  with  the  certainty  that  some  whom  they 
had  dearly  loved  were  even  then  actually  partaking 
in  the  blessedness  described,  that  it  became  a  won- 
der to  themselves  how  they  could  ever  have  thought 
of  compromising  or  of  concealing  the  faith  wherein 
they  stood ;  and  martyrdom  in  any  shape  was  a 
welcome  prospect  seeing  to  what  it  formed  the  vis- 
ta. It  was  the  seed-time  of  a  second  harvest,  which 
the  Lord  prepared  to  gather  into  his  garner. 


252  THE   WEARING   OUT. 

It  may  be  asked  by  what  means  were  the  hated 
heretics  secured  from  the  vigilant  proceedings  of 
Ihose  who  had  long  lain  in  wait  for  them  ?  It  must 
be  remembered  that  these  harmless  people  of  God 
were  in  reality  hated  by  none  but  the  wolves  of 
Rome.  Their  neighbors  and  countrymen  had  al- 
ways acted  towards  them  with  the  utmost  forbear- 
ance, amounting  indeed  to  open,  unequivocal,  en- 
couragement ;  and  it  was  only  by  visiting  these  with 
the  most  tremendous  punishments  for  such  conniv- 
ance, that  they  were  reluctantly  induced  to  with- 
draw their  countenance  from  men  whom  they  se- 
cretly revered.  They  became  spies  only  under  the 
consciousness  that  other  spies  surrounded  them, 
eager  to  make  their  supposed  or  presumed  defection 
a  means  of  seizing  on  what  little  was  lefi  to  them  of 
their  native  possessions ;  if  not  of  bringing  their 
lives  into  peril.  They  knew  nothing  experimentally 
of  the  transforming  power  of  the  religion,  the  exte- 
rior loveliness  of  which  they  could  not  but  admire  ; 
nor  saw  any  great  harm  in  compelling  its  professors 
to  disguise  their  real  principles,  while  their  avowal 
exposed  both  parties  alike  to  danger.  It  was  there- 
fore, a  friendly,  and  a  half-reluctant  coercion  that 
the  class  in  question,  the  natives  and  citizens  «f  the 
provinces,  exercised  over  the  small  company  of  be- 
lievers still  left  among  them  ;  and  no  marvel  if  they 
speedily  relaxed  in  their  uncongenial  employment, 
when  they  saw  the  attention  of  the  more  dreaded 
party  the  clergy,  their  retainers,  and  the  strangers 


THE    WEARING    O'JT.  253 

brought  into  the  land  by  the  crusade,  so  completely 
engiossed  by  the  contest  of  de  Montfort  with  the 
Archbishop,  as  to  leave  them  little  leisure  and  less 
inclination  to  trouble  themselves  with  what  they  be- 
lieved to  be  not  only  a  conquered  but  an  extermi- 
nated foe. 

By  such  means  did  the  Lord  revive  his  work  in 
the  poor  persecuted  church  of  the  Albigenses  ;  but 
it  was  only  for  the  bringing  to  glory  of  all  his  elect 
in  that  place.  He  saw  fit  to  deliver  his  saints  into 
the  power  of  the  Beast,  and  the  present  breathing- 
time  was  but  preparatory  to  the  great  sacrifice  still 
to  be  made  to  the  papal  Baal. 

The  first  movement  towards  a  renewal  of  the  hor- 
rors of  war  was  made  by  the  son  of  Count  Raymond. 
The  Council  of  Lateran  had  conceded  to  these  two 
princes  a  portion  of  their  ancient  dominions,  not  in- 
cluding Toulouse,  which  with  other  possessions  to  a 
vast  extent  was  confirmed  to  de  Montfort.  Young 
Raymond  conceived  himself  to  have  obtained  at 
parting  the  sanction  of  the  pope  to  an  attempt  for 
the  recovery  of  his  inheritance  by  reconquest ;  nor 
is  it  at  all  unlikely  that  the  pontitf  was  heartily  ac- 
quiescent in  the  matter,  for  he  saw  the  whole  coun- 
try in  danger  of  being  contested  by  two  men,  one 
of  whom,  though  the  sworn  champion  of  the  Church, 
was  in  arms  against  that  branch  of  it  located  in  h's 
own  territory  ;  and  the  other,  albeit  an  ecclesias- 
tic of  most  fanatic  character,  had  become  little 
short  of  an  open  rebel  agaiust  Rome,  in  the  eager 


^54  THE    WliAKlXG    OUT. 

pursuit  of  worldly  aggrandizement.  Innocent  III, 
could  not  fail  to  see  how  favorable  to  the  exhausted 
flock  of  Christ  such  a  pause  must  be  ;  and  since 
the  two  Raymonds  had  made  unbounded  submission 
to  the  Church,  giving  every  possible  guarantee  for 
their  future  obedience  in  whatsoever  the  Vatican 
might  decree,  it  could  not  but  be  desirable  to  see  such 
a  third  party  in  the  field,  to  startle  the  others,  and 
revive  their  dormant  zeal  against  heresy  ;  especially 
as  the  pope  well  knew  he  could  at  pleasure  crush 
again  the  unhappy  house  of  Raymond. 

Thus  encouraged,  Raymond  the  younger,  who 
was  then  barely  nineteen  years  old,  took  the  field  at 
the  head  of  an  army  which  was  raised  as  in  a  mo- 
ment by  his  welcome  summons ;  and  so  successful 
was  his  opening  campaign,  that  de  Montfort,  roused 
from  his  security,  saw  the  peril  at  once.  His  expe- 
rienced tactics,  however,  proved  too  much  for  the 
ardent  young  commander,  whom  he  prevailed  on  to 
conclude  a  truce  with  him  before  he  had  heard  the 
tidings  already  communicated  to  de  Montfort, — that 
Toulouse  had  thrown  off  the  yoke  of  the  usurper 
openly  proclaiming  their  lawful  and  still  beloved 
sovereign,  Raymond  VI.,  who,  while  his  son  en- 
gaged the  enemy  at  home,  had  raised  an  army  in 
the  northern  provinces  of  Spain,  and  was  rapidly 
marching  at  their  head  towards  his  ancient  capital. 
But  Simon  having  so  far  outwitted  the  son,  ad- 
vanced with  his  whole  collected  force  to  meet  the 
father ;  and  Raymond,  the  newly-sworn  bondsman 


THE    WEARING     TOT.  255 

of  Rome,  had  not  courage  to  face  him  :  his  army 
dispersed  themselves  at  once ;  and  de  Montfort 
marched  on  to  take  vengeance  on  Toulouse. 

All  the  writers  of  that  period,  and  of  the  Ro- 
mish creed  in  general,  agree  in  describing  Toulouse 
as  the  very  hot- bed  of  heresy  :  and  we  have  seen, 
in  the  earlier  part  of  this  narrative,  how  openly, 
generously,  and  firmly  its  citizens  upheld  the  cause 
of  the  assailed  flock.  Their  treatment  of  Bishop 
Fouquet,  too,  will  be  remembered :  too  well  was  it 
remembered  by  that  blood-thirsty  priest  on  the 
present  occasion  !  It  appears  probable  that,  from 
motives  of  policy,  de  Montfort  might  have  acted 
with  a  show  of  forbearance  towards  this  noble  and 
powerful  city  ;  but  Fouquet,  as  his  own  historians 
boast,  prevailed  with  his  merciless  counsels  over  the 
dictates  of  a  wiser  policy  ;  and  having  gained  his 
point  with  the  commander,  he  re-entered  the  city, 
addressing  the  deluded  people  as  a  flock  for  whom 
he  tenderly  cared ;  and  appealing  to  the  Most  High 
in  attestation  of  the  perfect  sincerity  in  which  he 
sought  to  insure  their  safety,  he  prevailed  on  a  small 
company  of  the  most  considerable  citizens  to  repair 
to  the  general,  to  make  submission  in  the  name  of 
the  rest,  and  to  promise  allegiance  for  the  future. 
He  positively  guarranteed  to  them  a  favorable  re- 
ception and  indulgent  hearing;  and  thus  assured 
they  went  forth  to  the  camp,  where  de  Montfort,  at 
Fouquet's  suggestion,  had  prepared  heavy  fetters  of 
iron,  with  which  they  were  immediately  loaded. 


25B  THE    WEARING    OUT. 

The  first  party  had  not  long  been  gone,  when 
Fouquet  induced  another,  of  equal  rank,  to  follow, 
for  the  purpose  of  seconding  their  plea.  These 
were  in  like  manner  loaded  with  chains  ;  and  by  the 
crafty  wickedness  of  this  unprincipled  man,  above 
eighty  of  the  first  nobles  and  gentlemen  of  Toulouse 
had  been  delivered  into  de  Montfort's  merciless 
hands,  before  the  treachery  was  discovered.  Satis- 
fied that  their  embassy  was  successful,  the  citizens 
proceeded  in  larger  numbers  to  tender  their  submis- 
sion, when  they  met  a  townsman  who  had  escaped 
before  the  irons  could  be  placed  on  him,  and  thus 
became  acquainted  with  the  infamous  device.  The 
whole  city  flew  to  arms,  determined  to  defend  them- 
selves to  the  last ;  but  a  number  of  de  Montfort's 
soldiers  had  already  gained  entrance,  no  doubt  by 
Fouquet's  means,  into  the  city ;  and  every  savage 
excess  that  could  be  perpetrated  against  the  most 
defenceless  class  of  its  inhabitants  had  been  carried 
on  in  the  more  remote  and  least  populous  parts  of 
the  town,  to  an  appalling  extent  before  any  check 
could  be  given  to  their  atrocities.  They  were  at 
length  put  to  the  sword  or  driven  forth  ;  and  Simon 
himself  heading  the  flower  of  his  mounted  knights 
was  thrice  repulsed  with  great  slaughter  in  three 
several  attacks  on  as  many  bodies  of  the  gallant 
citizens.  The  threat,  however,  of  putting  to  instant 
death  his  eighty  prisoners,  produced  a  greater  im- 
pression .han  his  arms  could  do  on  the  Toulousians: 
and  heie  again  Fouquet  interposed,  bringing  with 


THE    WEARING    OUT.  257 

him  another  ecclesiastic  of  note,  and  both  pledging 
their  most  solemn  oath  before  God,  that  if  the  citi- 
zens yielded  to  the  terms  proposed  by  de  Montfort, 
their  brethren  should  be  restored  to  liberty,  their 
rights  confirmed,  and  their  personal  safety  seemed. 
Little  as  was  the  reliance  to  be  placed  on  the  oaths  of 
such  men,  still  as  no  possible  hope  existed  of  saving 
their  friends,  cr,  in  the  end,  their  city,  from  the  terrible 
vengeance  of  the  great  crusader,  they  at  last  agreed 
to  the  terms,  which  included  the  laying  down  of 
their  arms,  and  delivering  up  every  stronghold  to 
Simon's  forces.  This  done,  the  faith  was  kept  with 
them  that  Rome  boasts  of  keeping  with  herelics : 
all  their  principal  men  were  seized,  fettered,  and 
sent,  together  with  the  former  eighty  victirro,  to 
perish  miserably  in  the  dungeons  of  various  cities, 
occupied  by  de  Montfort.  After  execuiir/j  or.ch 
vengeance  as  his  own  cruel  will,  and  the  equally 
savage  bishop,  suggested,  on  the  disarmed  and  help- 
less citizens,  he  laid  on  them  a  fine,  which  was  sure 
to  reduce  the  wealthiest  to  indigence,  and  left  them 
with  a  menace,  that  if  such  imposition  was  not  strictly 
paid,  their  city  should  be  given  to  the  flames,  and  a 
general  massacre  sweep  its  inhabitants  from  the 
earth. 

To  what  extent  the  Albigenses,  as  believers,  suf- 
fered in  these  transactions,  we  have  no  record  ;  but 
as  Fouquet  was  the  presiding  genius  of  the  perse- 
cution, we  may  be  well  assured  that  he  selected  fof 
destruction  as  many  as  he  could.  Wheresoever  the 
82* 


259  71IE    WEARING    ODT. 

name  of  Christ  was  honored,  and  the  dark  apostasy 
rejected,  there  he  would  certainly  point  the  sword, 
though  it  does  not  appear  that  on  this  occasion  the 
fires  of  martyrdom  were  rekindled.  The  Toulous- 
ians  were  treated  rather  as  rebels  against  Simon  de 
Montfort  than  against  the  Pope  ;  and  the  affair 
proves  how  quickly  de  Montfort  was  merging  the 
character  of  the  Church's  champion  in  that  of  the 
martial  plunderer  and  temporal  prince.  Yet  he 
carefully  maintained  his  claim  to  the  former  distinc- 
tion ;  and  it  was  but  a  short  time  previous  to  these 
events  that  he  had  made  a  progress,  to  do  homage 
to  the  king  of  France,  during  the  whole  of  which, 
little  short  of  divine  honors  were  paid  him,  alike  by 
kings  and  prelates,  as  the  anointed  leader  and  de- 
fender of  what  they  most  impiously  designated  the 
armies  and  the  cause  of  the  Lord  of  hosts. 


CHAPTER    VII 

CONCLUSION. 

THE  events  of  several  years  succeeding  that  of 
the  memorable  Council  of  Lateran,  afford  us  no  clue 
by  which  to  trace  the  footsteps  of  the  flock,  beyond 
such  glimmerings  as  we  have  noticed,  of  avi  unex- 
tinguished  light  existing  amid  the  thick  darkness. 
Those  years  were  marked  by  much  stirring  incident 
m  the  world  :  the  Eastern  Crusades  revived  in  all 
their  original  enthusiasm,  completely  drawing  off 
public  attention  from  the  devastated  provinces  where 
Simon  de  Montfort  struggled  to  retain  what  his 
cruel  violence  had  grasped  ;  and  where  Fouquet  and 
his  unprincipled  associates  still  kept  up  the  war-cry 
of  "  Heresy,"  as  a  pretext  for  aiding  the  sanguinary 
conqueror.  The  career  of  the  latter,  was,  however, 
near  its  close ;  already  had  the  terrible  and  wily 
enemy  of  Christ's  Church  been  called  from  the  seat 
of  his  supreme  earthly  dominion  to  appear  before 
that  Jesus  whom  he  had  so  fiercely  persecuted,  and 
to  render  an  account  of  his  evil  deeds.  Innocent 
III.  was  cut  off  in  the  prime  and  pride  of  life,  leav- 
ing to  another,  perhaps  not  les?  willing,  but  cer- 


200  CONCLUSION. 

tainly  less  able  hand,  the  ta^k  of  wearing  out  and 
destroying  the  saints  of  the  Most  High  ;  and  the 
extinction  of  that  master-spirit  was  felt  throughout 
the  world,  as  an  event  that  must  needs  change  the 
general  aspect.  To  de  Montfort,  the  pretendeJ  ser- 
vant of  the  papacy,  who  in  reality  served  none  but 
himself,  it  mattered  little  who  ruled  in  the  Vatican, 
so  long  as  he  had  an  army  of  good  fighting  men 
under  his  command  ;  but  there  is  no  doubt  tha-t  the 
removal  of  their  pontifical  oppressor  produced  an 
exhilarating  effect  on  the  Languedocians,  and  on 
their  chiefs.  The  Count  of  Foix  in  particular  was 
strongly  suspected  of  holding  the  doctrines  that 
Rome  most  abhors ;  and  his  wife  openly  professed 
them  ;  but  the  character  of  a  religious  war  had 
been  well  nigh  lost  sight  of,  nothing  but  ;he  fanati- 
cism of  the  ecclesiastics  keeping  alive  its  semblance. 
Toulouse,  exasperated  by  the  perfidy  and  barbar- 
ity it  had  recently  experienced  at  the  hands  of  Simon, 
received  once  more  its  ancient  lord,  Raymond,  with 
a  fixed  determination  of  upholding  his  rights.  It 
was  not  long  before  powerful  reinforcements  were 
poured  into  the  city,  headed  by  the  principal  chiefs 
and  nobles  of  the  surrounding  territories  ;  so  that 
Simon  was  compelled  to  hasten  with  all  speed,  in 
his  wonted  assurance  of  being  able  to  put  down 
every  opposition  by  the  strength  of  his  arm.  His 
troops,  however,  contained  many  Avho  had  enrolled 
themselves  only  to  escape  suspicion  and  consequent 
destruction,  and  thtse  immediately  deserted  him  fol 


CONCLUSION.  261 

tii<;  standards  of  their  respective  chiefs.  Not  o  few 
of  his  mercenary  soldiers,  panic-struck  at  tins  unex- 
pected turn  of  affairs,  abruptly  left  him  also ;  and  it 
Wh.s  with  a  diminished  host,  though  partially 
strengthened  by  a  junction  with  his  brother  Guy, 
tlat  lie  approached  the  walls  of  Toulouse,  ere  jet 
the  eager  citizens  had  completed  their  rebuilding  and 
the  repairs  of  their  ruined  fortifications.  Against 
them,  de  Montfort  put  in  practice  his  utmost  skill, 
power,  and  persevering  resolution,  but  in  vain. 
Many  months  were  passed  in  pressing  a  hopeless 
siege,  and  in  making  assaults  that  were  always  re- 
pulsed with  severe  loss  to  the  assailants ;  until  mat- 
ters became  so  critical,  that  Fouquet  hastened  into 
France  to  preach  up  a  new  crusade :  and  Simon, 
dispatching  his  Countess  to  solicit  aid  from  Philip 
Augustus,  himself  made  a  very  urgent  appeal  to  the 
Vatican.  It  was,  indeed,  become  necessary  to  re- 
kindle the  old  embers  of  religious  persecution  into 
a  blaze,  in  order  to  preserve  to  him  the  prize  that 
he  had  proudly  thought  his  own» 

But  before  the  result  of  these  applications  could 
be  known,  the  vengeance  of  God  overtook  the  crim- 
inal. With  his  usual  show  of  pious  zeal,  he  was1 
attending  the  service  of  the  Church,  on  the  25th  of 
June,  1218,  when  news  was  brought  to  him  there 
that  the  besieged  had  made  a  sally  and  taken  his 
favorite  machine,  "  the  cat,"  which  they  were  de- 
stroying by  fire.  Mass  was  then  being  celebrated, 
and  he  remained  till  the  moment  when  the  wafer 


262  coNCLtstoN. 

was  elevated,  to  which  the  monstrous  dog/tia  of 
transubstantiation  had  been  formally  affixed  by  the 
Lateran  Council ;  then  blasphemously  perverting  tho 
•language  of  Scripture,  he  loudly  exclaimed,  ••  Lord, 
"  Lord,  now  lettest  thou  thy  servant  depart  in  peace, 
for  mine  eyes  have  seen  thy  salvation  ;"  and  with 
this  awful  testimony  to  his  idolatrous  belief,  he  left 
the  church,  to  superintend  the  retaking  of  the  mur* 
derous  machine.  In  this  he  succeeded  ;  but  at  the 
same  moment  a  ponderous  stone  cast  from  the  walls, 
smote  the  defyer  of  the  living  God  on  the  forehead, 
and  laid  him  low  in  death. 

It  was  not  till  after  a  month's  protracted  but 
fruitless  efforts  to  carry  the  siege  to  a  successful 
termination,  that  Amaury  de  Montfort  took  up  his 
father's  corpse,  and  bore  it  over  the  blood-stained 
track  of  his  long  advance,  to  that  memorable  spot, 
Carcassonne,  where  the  young  and  noble  Count 
Raymond  Roger  had  been  ensnared  by  treachery 
and  committed  to  the  hands  of  one  TV  ho,  after  a  long 
and  dreary  imprisonment  in  a  dungeon,  ended  by 
murdering  him.  Hither  the  grim  and  ghastly  body 
was  brought  in  all  the  mingled  pomp  and  pride  of 
military  and  regal  parade  ;  and  when  at  the  last  day 
of  awful  judgment  the  graves  .ire  opened,  and  earth 
and  sea  yield  up  their  dead,  from  the  crumbling 
fragments  of  Carcassonne  will  come  forth  tho 
wretched  Simon  de  Montfort. 

His  character  and  his  career,  were,  indeed,  most 
fearfully  pre-eminent  in  guilt.  The  wild  enthusiasm 


203 

of  the  age  that  really  thought  to  do  God  service  by 
slaying  his  saints,  the  chivalrous  spirit  that  loved  to 
conquer  for  conquest's  sake,  and  courted  the  plaudits 
that  formed  the  victor's  proudest  meed,  these  be- 
longed not  to  de  Montfort.  Dark,  stern,  cold,  self- 
wh,  calculating,  and  with  that  revolting  peculiarity 
which  distinguishes  some  few  beasts  of  prey,  the 
wanton  prolongation  of  the  victim's  sufferings,  while 
the  monster  gloats  over  its  pangs,  he  stood  compar- 
atively alone,  supreme  in  cruelty,  where  all  were 
cruel ;  and  never  was  he  known  to  yield  his  own  sav- 
age will,  save  when  some  prompter,  like  Fouquet,  sug- 
gested a  refinement  of  treachery  and  barbarity  be- 
yond what  he  had  himself  conceived.  The  selection 
of  such  a  man  to  bear  the  title  of  the  Church's  most 
trusted  and  most  favored  champion,  speaks  volumes 
as  to  what  that  Church  itself  must  have  been  ;  while 
imagination  shrinks  from  pursuing  the  track  of  his 
blood-stained  course,  rending,  mangling,  and  destroy- 
ing without  mercy  old  and  young,  the  gray-haired 
sire  of  successive  generations,  and  the  helpless  babe 
•f  yesterday  ;  the  true  worshipper  of  God  and  the 
oval  slave  of  Rome  who  dared  to  cast  a  look  of 
compassion  on  his  more  enlightened  brother ;  aye, 
und  the  undoubted  devotee  of  that  very  religion  for 
which  Simon  professed  to  combat,  if  by  including 
him  under  the  commor  charge  of  heresy,  the  plun- 
derer might  destroy  him,  and  seize  on  his  inherit- 
ance. We  cannot  follow  such  a  wretch  as  this  to 
his  final  accovint :  we  can  but  ponder  on  the  fearful 


264  CONCLUSION. 

truth  that  such,  ir  its  unrestrained  workings,  is  the 
Mystery  of  Iniquitj  ;  such  the  character  of  that 
Great  Babylon  on  whom  vengeance  will  ere  long 
fall ;  and  from  the  contemplation  gather  fresh  en- 
ergy for  the  reiterated  call,  "  Come  out  of  her,  my 
people  !  be  ye  not  partakers  of  her  sins,  that  ye  re- 
ceive not  of  her  plagues." 

Amaury  de  Montfort,  determined  to  retain  what 
his  father  had  Avon,  exerted  himself  effectually  alike 
at  the  Court  of  Rome  and  that  of  France,  to  obtain 
the  needful  assistance  for  another  crusade  ;  of  course 
on  the  old  pretext  of  extirpating  heresy,  but  in  reality 
to  -attack  and  to  slay  the  native  possessors  of  a  soil  over 
which  he  desired  to  reign  supreme  ;  and  who,  though 
perfectly  sincere  in  their  allegiance  to  the  papacy, 
still  preferred  the  mild  rule  of  their  rightful  and 
half-enlightened  lords  to  the  sway  of  a  bigot,  dark, 
fierce,  and  pitiless,  as  they  had  good  reason  to  fear 
a  de  Montfort  must  be.  This  expedition  was  headed 
by  Prince  Louis  of  France,  as  a  meritorious  service 
before  God  ;  and  very  many  were  the  lives  sacri- 
ficed of  those  whom  we  cannot  number  with  the 
saints,  the.  objects  of  the  war  made  by  the  Beast,  in 
the  person  of  Innocent  III.  The  castle  of  Mar- 
maude  was  an  important  post ;  and  to  this  the 
crusaders  laid  siege,  until  the  inhabitants  offered 
to  capitulate,  and  Prince  Louis  willingly  granted 
them  permission  lo  leave  the  place  in  safety,  reject- 
ing the  council  of  the  Bishop  of  Saintes,  that  he 
shouk1  seizo,  burn,  and  otherwise  slay  the  whole 


CONCLUSION.  265 

body,  civil  and  military,  as  heretics  and  npos(ates. 
But  wha:  the  French  prince  could  nut  bring  himself 
to  perpetrate,  was  done  by  hands  more  experienced 
in  the  work  of  treachery  and  slaughter.  While  a 
few  of  the  principal  chiefs  and  knights  were  going 
through  the  form  of  surrendering  themselves  in  the 
tent  of  Louis,  Amaury  de  Montfort,  ftt  the  head  of 
his  troops,  privately  entered  the  unguarded  city, 
wiiere  of  five  thousand  inhabitants,  of  all  ages  and 
conditions,  they  left  not  one  alive.  Every  man, 
woman,  and  child,  was  butchered  before  Louis 
could  interpose  to  stay  the  work  of  death.  He  ex- 
pressed displeasure ;  but  it  was  not  for  a  mere 
secular  prince  to  condemn  what  had  been  done  un- 
der ecclesiastical  sanction  ;  and  leaving  the  reeking 
heap  of  carnage  to  send  up  to  heaven  its  fearful  cry 
against  them,  the  crusaders  prepared  once  more  to 
assault  Toulouse.  They  were  further  encouraged  to 
this  attempt  by  the  publicly  recorded  oath  of  the 
people's  legate,  who  had  solemnly  sworn  "  that  in 
the  said  Toulouse  should  remain  neither  man,  wo- 
man, boy,  nor  girl,  but  that  all  should  be  put  to 
death,  without  sparing  any,  old  or  young ;  and  that 
in  all  the  city  there  should  not  remain  one  stone 
upon  another,  but  all  should  be  demolished  and 
thrown  down.  This  pious  oath,  by  the  immediate 
representative  of  infallibility,  infused  new  courage 
into  the  crusaders,  and  excited  no  small  dread  in  the 
bosom  of  the  miserable  Count  Raymond,  who  con- 
tinued fast  bound  in  the  cHins  of  superstition,  pjir- 
23 


266  CONCLUSION. 

suing  ..is  anomalous  course  of  unbounded  submission 
to  the  spiritual  thraldom  of  Rome;  and  protection, 
so  far  as  it  still  existed  to  be  protected,  to  what  she 
denounces  it  an  unpardonable  sin  even  to  tolerate. 
Still  Raymond  had  many  brave  and  faithful  allies, 
•who  threw  reinforcements  into  the  city  in  great 
abundance ;  while  the  dovotion  of  magistrates,  bur- 
gesses, and  people  to  their  hereditary  ruler  and  his 
son  was  unbounded.  No  sign  of  intimidation  ap- 
peared, but  the  boldest  preparations  for  a  vigorous 
defence  ;  and  after  some  able  but  fruitless  attempts 
to  carry  a  part  of  the  outworks,  Prince  Louis  with 
the  remains  of  his  army,  gladly  retired ;  accompa- 
nied not,  only  by  the  disappointed  Amaury  de  Mont- 
fort,  but  also  by  the  legate,  Bertrand,  whose  piou« 
vow  was  baffled  as  effectually  as  that  of  the  devotees 
of  old,  who  were  sworn  "  neither  to  eat  or  drink  till 
they  had  slain  Paul." 

But  where,  during  this  while,  were  those  who  in 
life  and  doctrine  were  followers  of  Paul,  even  as  he 
followed  Christ  ?  They  were  still  scattered  about 
the  provinces,  taken  advantage  of  the  temporary  di- 
version of  theii  merciless  foes'  from  the  work  of 
direct  persecution ;  confirming  each  other  in  the 
faith,  and  deriving  new  strength  to  resist  alike  the 
allurements  and  the  terrors  of  Rome,  from  if  hat 
they  had  beheld  of  the  practical  workings  of  that 
cruelly  fierce  and  anti-christian  sprit,  which  stands 
in  every  point  opposed  to  the  peace  and  love  of  the 
Gospel.  Gradually,  the  numbe*  'f  those  who  had 


CONCLUSION.  26T 

still  lingered  in  their  native  valleys  decreased  more 
and  more.  A  sylums  were  found  in  other  lan.ds,  where 
compassion  for  their  unparalleled  sufferings,  respect 
for  their  blameless  characters,  and  not  unfrequentlj- 
a  happy  curiosity  to  learn  the  particulars  of  a  faith 
that  bore  such  fruits,  inclined  the  inhabitants  to  re- 
ceive and  to  shelter  them.  In  this  way  was  the 
seed  of  divine  truth  spread  far  abroad,  even  by  the 
same  wind  that  prostrated  the  parent  tree  on  its 
native  soil ;  and  to  the  teaching  of  those  expatriated 
confessors  of  Provence  may  be  directly  traced  the 
germ  that  appeared  in  its  maturity  in  the  persons  of 
John  Huss,  and  Jerome  of  Prague. 

It  was  in  1219  that  the  last  hope  of  Amaury  de 
Montfort  was  baffled  before  the  walls  of  Toulouse : 
and  in  the  interval  that  succeeded,  an  appearance  of 
revival  gladdened  the  hearts  of  many  who  had  re- 
mained at  or  returned  to  their  former  posts.  It  is 
on  record,  that  in  1222,  a  sort  of  convocation  of  the 
Albigensic  Church  was  held  in  Razez,  where  up- 
wards of  a  hundred  of  their  principal  men  assem- 
bled, and  in  some  measure  re-organized  the  dis- 
persed body,  by  again  appointing  preachers  and  in- 
structors for  the  several  departments,  where  the 
flames  of  mai  tyrdom  had  consumed  together  both 
pastors  and  flocks ;  a  few  fragments  of  the  latter 
only  remaining  to  be  now  re-gathered  into  their  be- 
loved fold.  Beyond  this,  we  have  no  authority  for 
stating  any  particulars  respecting  the  Albigensic 
believers  .  if  they  left  any  written  documents,  thej 


268  CONCLUSION. 

would  ultimately  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  exter- 
minating Inquisition,  subsequently  established  in 
that  wretched  country  under  the  fierce  followers  of 
Dominic  ;  and  it  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  sucli 
dangerous  papers  would  escape  the  flames  kindled 
for  their  authors.  The  opposite  party,  of  course, 
had  nothing  to  tell,  for  they  kiiew  nothing ;  or  we 
should  have  it  before  us  in  such  exulting  annals  of 
martyrdom  as  Peter  de  Vaux  Cernay  supplies  up 
to  the  death  of  his  patron,  Simon  de  Montfort,  with 
whose  career  his  work  closes.  We  can  only  in  im- 
agination follow  the  quiet  course  of  those  who  had. 
always  found  it  right  for  the  sake  of  their  kind,  tol- 
erating neighbors,  to  worship  in  comparative  se- 
crecy ;  and  who  now  on  their  own  account  no  less 
than  theirs,  avoided  all  open  manifestation  of  the 
partial  revival,  beyond  what  was  necessary  for  the 
right  ordering  of  their  church.  Most  absurd  re- 
ports were  circulaied,  even  on  this  slender  founda- 
tion ;  even  to  the  assertion  that  the  heretics  had,  in 
another  kingdom,  elected  a  pope  of  their  own,  in 
opposition  to  him  at  Rome  ;  but  to  this  no  one  can 
give  credit.  Even  at  the  comparatively  numerous 
convocations  already  alluded  to,  only  three  new 
preachers  were  ordained,  which,  considering  how 
lamentably  the  number  of  teachers  had  been  dimin- 
ished by  fire  and  the  sword,  starvation  and  exile, 
Badly  proclaims  the  yet  more  diminished  state  of 
the  iei:ovr,red  flock. 

Mat  jrs  wen*  tn  in  this  way  for  the  spa:e  of  scv- 


CONCLUSION.  269 

eral  years,  even  to  1226,  beforj  the  t.rch  of  deso» 
lating  war  was  rekindled  in  the  unhappy  provinces. 
Long  before  that  period  Raymond  VI.  died  :  ex- 
hibiting to  the  last  the  most  servile  devotion  to  Po- 
pery ;  sustaining  the  character  of  a  broken-hearted 
penitent  towards  the  enemy  who  had  so  relentlessly 
persecuted  him ;  and  clearly  proving  how  far  he 
was  from  having  received  the  life-giving  rays  of 
that  light  which,  nevertheless,  he  had  long  protected 
and  favored.  It  must  be  said  of  him  that  he  delib- 
erately chose  darkness  rather  than  light ;  for  both 
were  before  him  ;  the  latter  in  its  purest  radiance, 
shining  amid  the  agonies  of  many  cruel  deaths  ;  the 
former  in  the  depth  of  its  most  hideous  blackness, 
with  its  unmasked  horrors  evermore  crossing  his 
path. 

Raymond  VII.  had  exercised  the  powers  of  gov- 
ernment in  his  father's  name,  for  some  time,  before 
death  removed  the  old  Count  from  the  scene  of  vi- 
cissitude and  woe  where  he  had  long  been  a  prom- 
inent actor.  This  youthful  prince  showed  himself 
less  conscientious  towards  his  subjects  than  his  fa- 
ther had  done  :  for  not  only  were  his  protestations 
of  devoted  fidelity  to  the  Papacy  constantly  re- 
newed ;  but  he  reoeatedly  declared  his  readiness  to 
seek  out,  to  seize,  and  to  punish  with  the  utmost  se 
verity  that  Rome  could  desire,  all  who  held  the 
better  faith.  It  availed  him  little,  however;  for  in 
1226,  at  the  head  of  fifty  thousand  horsemen,  and 
an  altogethei  innumeiable  force,  sanctioned  by  the 
23* 


?70  CONCLUSION. 

Pope's  blessing,  accompanied  by  his  legate,  and  by 
the  veteran  traitor  and  homicide,  Fouquet,  bishop 
of  Toulouse,  (oy  the  Toulousians  themselves  called 
the  Bishop  of  Devils,)  we  find  the  King  of  France, 
Louis  VIII.,  engaged  in  a  vigorous  crusade  against 
the  heretics  of  Albigeois — in  reality,  to  deprive  his 
powerful  vassal-counts  of  their  possessions,  and  to 
secure  in  his  own  grasp  what  had  been  the  grand 
prize  aimed  at  by  Simon  de  Montfort. 

In  the  month  of  June,  the  king  laid  siege  to  the 
splendid  city  of  Avignon,  pressing  it  with  all  his 
forces,  during  three  months  unsuccessfully.  He  is 
stated  to  have  lost,  by  pestilence  and  the  sword, 
twenty  thousand  men  in  those  three  months ;  and 
when  at  last  the  place  capitulated,  it  was  on  terms 
such  as  had  often  been  granted,  but  never  be- 
fore kept  by  conquering  crusaders.  In  this  case, 
the  articles  were  observed ;  and  the  enormous  sacri- 
fice of  life,  including  the  hastening  on  of  the  king's 
own  death,  brought  no  real  advantage  to  the  invad- 
ers, although  the  verbal  submission  of  all  the  Lan- 
guedocian  nobles  was  secured  by  the  intimidation 
produced.  But  the  object  of  this  holy  war  was  well 
nigh  baffled  altogether ;  for  not  a  single  heretic  could 
be  found  throughout  the  country  which  they  trav- 
i-rsed,  though  Fouquet  put  forth  all  his  energies, 
and  thr  king  all  his  zeal  in  the  search.  At  length 
they  found  at  Cannes,  near  Narbonne,  an  aged 
preacher  of  the  Gospel,  nimed  Peter  Isarn,  whose 
infirmities  having  disabled  him  from  flight,  he  had 


JONCUJSION.  271 

•ecreted  himself  until  the  diligence  of  Fouquet  dis- 
covered and  dragged  him  forth.  With  exulting 
ceremony,  they  brought  the  venerable  minister  to  a 
mock  trial ;  and  publicly  burned  him  as  an  accepta- 
ble offering,  if  not  to  the  God  of  heaven,  to  the  foul 
spirit  that  delights  in  making  herself  "  drunk  with 
the  blood  of  His  saints." 

From  the  wide  battle-field  so  long  deluged  with 
blood,  the  principal  combatants  had  passed  away. 
Simon  de  Montfort  mouldered  on  a  spot  defiled  and 
devastated  by  his  crimes ;  and  the  unburied  corpse 
of  Raymond  VI.,  for  which  no  efforts,  no  supplica- 
tions, no  lowliness  of  submission  on  the  part  of  his 
son  could  obtain  the  privilege  of  burial  from  the  vin- 
dictive Church  of  Rome,  presented  a  monument  of  un- 
availing, because  inconsistent,  adherence  to  a  better 

O' 

cause.  Of  the  great  army  brought  into  Languedoc 
by  the  French  king,  it  might  be  said,  as  of  the  As- 
syrians of  old,  that  they 

"Jntouched  by  the  sword, 
Had  melted  like  snow  at  the  breath  of  the  Lord. 

The  monarch  himself  died  .very  shortly  after  his 
parting  exploit  of  committing  to  the  flames  the 
hoary  head,  and  palsied  limbs  of  Christ's  solitary 
martyr,  Peter  Isarn  ;  and  while  another  new  occu- 
pant was  busied  in  settling  himself  on  the  throne  of 
the  Vatican,  and  a  light-minded,  intriguing  Queen 
Regent  took  Tie  re'gns  of  French  government  into 


272 

her  unpractised  hand,  it  might  be  supposed  that 
the  drooping  tree,  of  the  Lord's  planting  among  the 
Provencals  would  once  more  revive,  lift  its  head,  and 
extend  its  branches.  But,  alas  !  the  wild  boar  had 
wounded  it  too  deeply  for  such  a  revival  to  take 
place ;  and  very  few,  and  very  feeble,  and  far-dis- 
persed asunder,  were  the  remnants  of  what  had 
once  formed  so  fair  and  promising  a  Church.  The 
very  pretext  of  seeking  out  heretics  became  scarcely 
available  ;  and  though  Blanche,  who  now  governed 
for  the  youthful  son  of  Louis,  dispatched  a  fresh 
armament  against  the  Count  of  Toulouse,  still  nomi- 
nally to  extirpate  heresy,  it  would  have  been  diffi- 
cult for  them  to  give  the  semblance  of  a  religious 
crusade  to  the  expedition,  had  not  those  two  veteran 
soldiers  of  the  Evil  One,  Arnold  Amalric  and  Fou- 
quet,  personally  assisted  in  the  campaign.  The  cas- 
tle of  Becede  was  taken ;  the  garrison  put  to  the 
sword  ;  and  Fouquet  had  the  -joy  of  discovering 
within  the  conquered  walls  a  faithful  Albigensic  pas- 
tor, named  Girard  de  la  Mote,  with  a  little  flock  gath- 
ered about  him.  They  would  have  fallen  undistin- 
guished in  the  general  slaughter,  but  the  bishop 
rushed  in  to  their  rescue ;  and  when  the  work  of 
blood  was  finished,  he  proceeded  to  the  still  more 
congenial  work  of  fire.  The  whole  party  were  sol- 
emnly arraigned  as  heretics,  condemned,  and  with 
every  ceremonial  that  could  give  additional  zest  to 
the  scene,  burnt  alive.  Carried  back  in  imagination 
to  those  times,  and  looking,  as  it  were,  on  the  horri- 


roN'ci.iistox.  273 

bb  cruelties  perpetrated  by  men  who  made  it  their 
brightest  merit  and  highest  glory  to  revel  in  the 
death-throes  of  their  unresisting  victims,  we  must 
feel  the  glow  of  natural  indignation,  heightened  by 
the  knowledge  that  they  did  these  things  in  the 
name,  and  professedly  by  the  authority,  and  to  the 
honor  and  praise  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  whom 
they  thus  persecuted,  and  daily  crucified  afresh  by 
their  enormous  crimes  ;  but  passing  on  from  the  past 
to  the  present,  remembering  the  awful  fact,  that 
these  murderers  are  even  now  in  a  state  of  real,  con- 
scious existence,  and  anticipating  the  final  doom 
which  our  own  ears  will  hear  pronounced  upon  them, 
while  our  own  eyes  survey  their  forms,  called  forth 
— terrible  thought !  to  "  the  resurrection  of  damna- 
tion ;"  we  may  well  merge  all  other  feelings  in  that 
of  trembling  adoration,  as  the  question  appeals  to 
our  hearts,  "  Who  made  thee  to  differ?"  On  the 
other  hand,  we  know  that  the  spirits  of  the  martyra 
are  with  Him  who  first  suffered  unto  death  for 
them ;  and  while  they  stand  rejoicing  before  his 
throne,  the  language  of  their  blessed  experience  is, 
"  Our  light  afflictions,  which  were  but  for  a  moment, 
have  wrought  out  for  us  a  far  more  exceeding  and 
eternal  weight  of  glory." 

Very  beautiful  is  the  country  where  all  these 
scenes  of  blood  took  place.  The  hand  of  God  had 
decked  it  with  mountain  and  valley,  hill,  grove,  and 
plain.  Ri^h  vineyards  mantled  the  graceful  slopes, 
turning  t^eir  purple  clurters  to  the  ripening  sun- 


ii\  CONCLUSION. 

beam  ;    golden  harvests  waved,  ai  d   bright  green 
pastures  stretched  away  where  the  open  plain  pro- 
longed its  level,   waterc  1  by  rivers,  of  which  the 
perpetual  supplies  came  bubbling  down  the  rocks, 
and  widened  as  they  ran  into  new  channels.     Cas- 
tles of  gigantic  size,  throwing  out  their  fortifications 
to  an  immense  extent,  crowned  by  dark  woods,  while 
their  site,  frequently,  was  on  the  summit  of  a  pre- 
cipitous rock,  were  in  keeping  with  the  grandeur  ol 
the  natural  scenery  ;  though,  alas  !  the  jealous  care 
with  which  every   part   was  rendered  available  for 
defensive  warfare,  bespoke  the  constant  expectation 
of  some  outburst  of  man's  enmity  against  his  brother 
man  ;  and  told  how  far  the  kingdoms  of  this  world 
still  were  from  having  become  the  kingdom  of  our 
God  and  of  his  Christ.     Yet,  overshadowed  as  they 
were  by  the  martial  piles  of  their  warlike  lords,  the 
simple  dwellings  of  the  lowly  wore  an  aspect  of  con- 
scious security  and  peace.     The  twining  flower-stem 
threw  its  graceful  arms  around  the  rustic   porch, 
and  climbed  the  roof,  and  laughed  in  at  the  little 
casement ;  its  lesser  kindred   spread  their  many-col- 
ored forms  of  beauty  on  the  ground  below,  inter- 
mingled with  herb  and  vegetable,  and  fruit-bearing 
bush,  with  scarcely  the  defensive  precaution  of  a  few 
light  stakes  to  mark  the  boundary  where  none  were 
expected  to  intrude.     Nor  was  the  peace,  in  numer- 
cus  cases,  such  as  results  from  outward  safety  and 
tranquillity  alone  :  in  very  many  of  those  rural  hab- 
itations dwelt  tbe  true  son  of  a  truo  peace,  such  as 


CONCLUSION.  275 

the  world  has  not  to  give — such  as  the  world  can 
never,  in  life  >r  in  death,  take  away.  That  peace 
rested  on  the  heads  and  in  the  hearts  of  the  cottage 
dwellers,  while  they  looked  round  on  a  landscape 
radiant  with  smiles,  and  undreading  the  approach 
of  a  hostile  step.  It  rested  there,  when  the  land 
that  had  been  as  the  garden  of  Eden  became  a 
waste  wilderness  ;  when  the  protecting  fortress  was 
dismantled,  and  turned  to  a  heap  of  smoking,  black- 
ened ruins ;  when  the  soil,  uptorn  and  trampled 
down  again,  became  a  pestilential  admixture  of  cor- 
rupting flesh  and  congealed  blood,  and  decomposed 
vegetable  ruin  :  when  the  youthful  son  of  many 
prayers  and  hopes  fell  a  mangled  corpse  before  the 
entrance  of  the  dwelling  which  he  vainly  sought  to 
guard  with  his  wounded  body,  and  the  crash  of  ruin 
bespoke  the  utter  demolition  of  that  frail  tenement 
whence  the  son  of  peace  was  at  length  ejected  ;  but 
how?  and  whither  went  he?  Bound  and  fettered 
and  scourged  along  the  hideous  road,  now  foul  with 
death  ;  his  matron  partner,  and  his  blooming  daugh- 
ter, with  raiment  torn,  and  hair  dishevelled,  and 
shoulders  laid  bare  to  the  quickening  thong,  drag- 
ging their  bruised  limbs  after  him,  the  son  of  peace 
proceeded  on  his  way,  satisfied  that  as  was  the  Lord, 
so  must  His  people  be  in  this  world  ;  and  neither 
daunted  nor  discouraged  on  his  path  of  sorrow, 
sanctified  as  was  every  step  thereof  by  the  footprint 
of  the  great  Forerunner. 

They  have  reached   the   camp  ;  and  in  a  Icrdly 


276  .  7O1S.'LUSION. 

tent  (>its  the  appointed  vicegerent  of  him  who  murps 
a  throne  in  the  nominal  temple  of  God.  A  dense 
company  surround  him,  of  bishops  and  priests,  and 
all  the  ecclesiastical  orders  of  Rome,  clad  after  the 
pattern  seen  by  John  in  the  Apocalypse,  in  scarlet, 
and  gold,  and  gems  of  dazzling  lustre,  such  as  their 
queen  was  decked  in.  An  outer  circle  inclose  this 
mitred  and  cowled  company,  of  fierce  warriors, 
whose  burnished  armor,  Hashing  back  the  licfht 

o  o 

amid  the  wild  and  graceful  confusion  of  silken  scarfs 
and  waving  plumage  of  every  imaginable  dye,  add 
grandeur  to  the  terrors  of  the  scene.  Who  else  is 
there  ?  The  son  of  peace  is  there ;  a  most  unwont- 
ed guest  in  that  gorgeous  company  !  The  poor 
peasant  stands  before  the  haughty  prelate  who 
wields  pontifical  authority,  defiled  with  dust  and 
blood,  and  pale  with  the  anguish  that  cries  out  from 
the  overburdened  heart,  "  Save  me  from  this  hour !" 
yet  calm  in  the  inseparable  adjunct,  so  dear  to  the 
child  of  God,  "  Nevertheless  not  my  will  but  thine 
be  done !"  Close  behind  him,  close  as  wanton 
tyranny  will  permit  them  to  press,  stand  the  gentle 
objects  of  his  earthly  love,  endeared  by  the  tie  that 
death  cannot  sever.  He  is  questioned  concerning 
his  hope :  he  declares  it  to  be  wholly  centred  in 
Jesus  who  died  upon  the  cross  for  sinners :  he  is 
asked  of  his  faith  in  the  power  of  the  so-called 
church ;  in  the  authority  of  her  priests  to  absolve 
from  sin  and  to  save  a  soul  alive,  or  to  bind  that 
soul  in  chains  that  Omnipotence,  cannot  break;  h* 


CONCLUSION.  27? 

Is  a&ked  of  his  confidence  in  tlie  n.erits  awd  inter- 
cessory  efficiency  of  dead  women  and  dead  men  ; 
and,  fia illy,  he  is  required  to  submit  himself  to  the 
Roman  Church,  as  of  divine  authority  ;  to  bow  down 
and  adore  a  consecrated  cake,  as  the  very  Jesus,  the 
all-sufficient  Saviour  whom  he  hast  just  confessed. 

To  each  and  all  of  these  queries  and  demands,  he 
returns  a  calm,  firm  negative  ;  striving  at  the  same 
time  to  set  forth  the  grounds  of  his  scriptural  dis- 
sent ;  but  experience  had  taught  the  persecutors  the 
impoi:cy  of  suffering  the  truth  to  be  heard  ;  and 
with  fL-rce  clamor  they  condemn  him  to  the  burning 
flames.  A  shorter  interrogation  suffices  with  the 
women  ;  it  is  enough  that  his  faith  is  theirs,  his 
hope,  his  joyous  readiness  to  suffer  ;  and  the  son  of 
peace  passes  out,  to  ascend  the  burning  pile  already 
prepared  by  eager  hands,  well  accustomed  to  the 
task,  and  perfectly  aware  that  a  victim  once  seized 
was  already  condemned,  even  though  proof  should 
fail  that  he  had  ever  borne  the  brand  of  heresy. 
•  The  flames  ascend  ;  the  priests  in  awful  mock- 
ery  of  God  chant  their  jubilate  round  the  scene  of 
death  ;  and  warriors  clash  their  shields  and  wave  their 
banners  in  joyous  accompaniment,  while  the  curling 
smoke  ever  and  anon  dividing,  affords  them  a  glimpse 
of  what  is  within.  The  son  of  peace  is  there  :  the 
Prince,  of  Peace  is  there  also,  invisible  to  man,  but, 
oh,  how  sensibly  present  to  His  suffering,  yet  rejoic- 
ing servants,  now  in  the  act  of  putting  off  the 
scorched  tabernacles  of  their  mortal  bodies,  and  to 
24 


278  CONCLUSION. 

join  the  noble  army  of  martyrs,  resting  in  the  abodes 
of  everlasting  peace. 

Persecution  and  affliction  are  not  the  necessary 
portion  either  of  a  church  or  of  an  individual  be- 
liever. The  Lord  assigns  the  lot  that  He  sees  best 
suited  to  the  circumstances  in  which  he  has  placed 
them.  Even  under  heathen  rule,  and  in  the  midst 
of  many  adversaries,  there  was  a  period  of  which  it 
could  be  recorded,  "  Then  had  the  churches  rest 
throughout  all  Judea,  and  Galilee,  and  Samaria;" 
and  instead  of  any  declension  attending  this  peace- 
ful state,  we  read,  that  they  "  were  edified  ;  asd 
walking  in  the  fear  of  the  Lord,  and  in  the  comfort, 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,  were  multiplied."  In  like  man- 
ner, it  sometimes  pleases  God  to  add  outward  pros- 
perity, and  domestic  happiness,  unalloyed  by  any 
great  drawback,  to  the  spiritual  blessings  wherewith 
he  enriches  his  children ;  until,  perhaps,  the  doubting 
soul  makes  a  cross  of  the  absence  of  crosses,  asking, 
"  Can  I  be  living  godly  in  Christ  Jesus,  while  I  suffer 
no  persecution!"  These  are  exceptions  indeed  to  a 
general  rule,  but  they  should  excite  no  misgivings  :  it 
often  seems  good  to  the  Lord  to  try  our  faith,  and 
Immility,  and  love,  by  prosperity  as  well  as  by  ad- 
versity  ;  and  perhaps  it  is  the  harder  trial  of  the  two. 

A  single  believer  in  an  ungodly,  dissipated  family  ; 
a  pious  man,  obliged  to  abide  among  scoffers,  as  a 
soldier  in  a  regiment,  or  a  sailor  in  a  ship  ;  a  little 
flock  of  true  Christians  walking  consistently  with 
their  profesVon  in  a  church  where  spiritual  life  is 


CONCLUSION.  279 

otherwise  extinct,  and  where  the  rulers  are  not  fnith- 
ful  to  their  trust ;  these  must  indeed  look  for  per- 
secution as  .severe  as  the  restraining  power  of  Prot' 
estant  toleration  will  allow ;  and  where  the  religion 
of  the  Bible  is  gradually  giving  way  to  a  religion  of 
forms  and  ceremonies,  vain  traditions  and  unwar- 
ranted assumptions,  we  may  be  assured  that  the 
hour  is  not  far  off  when  such  toleration  shall  cease 
to  exist,  together  with  the  root  that  bears  it.  In 
the  case  of  the  afflicted  Albigenses,  the  sure  word 
of  prophecy  had  foretold  their  delivery  into  the 
power  of  the  Beast,  and  his  successful  war  upon 
them ;  but  it  is  probable  that  very  few  among  them 
possessed,  and  fewer  still  applied  to  themselves, 
what  had  been  revealed  to  the  apostle  John.  It 
was  enough  for  them  that  God  had  shown  them 
the  all-sufficiency  of  the  one  great  sacrifice  offered 
on  the  cross  ;  and  the  Holy  Spirit  strengthened 
them  to  stand  fast  in  the  liberty  wherewith  Christ 
had  made  them  free,  resisting  unto  death  the  entan- 
glements of  that  yoke  of  bondage  which  would  have 
enslaved  them  to  a  system  utterly  opposed  to  the 
truth  of  the  Gospel — a  mystery  of  iniquity,  the  dire- 
ful workings  of  which  they  beheld  on  all  sides ;  not 
only  in  the  profligate  lives  of  its  ministers,  and  the 
hardened  sinfulness  of  its  votaries,  but  in  the  deeda 
of  blood  and  savage  cruelty  perpetrated  under  its 
direct  sanction,  as  a  rendering  unto  God  of  most 
acceptable  service. 

The  land  was  no\i  again  thrown  out  of  cultiva 


280  CONCLUSION. 

ticn  ;  for  war  lad  once  more  burst  upon  its  borders, 
and  it  was  well  known  that  Blanche  of  Castille,  the 
q;ieen-mother  of  France,  had  promised  to  put  a 
finishing  hand  to  the  work  of  her  predecessors. 
The  young  Count  Raymond  was  beforehand  with 
her;  after  the  affair  of  Becede,  which  was  all  that 
the  last  invasion  had  accomplished,  he  took  the  field 
with  a  considerable  army,  met  the  enemy's  forces, 
obtained  a  decisive  victory,  and  gave  the  most  con- 
clusive proof  of  the  extirpation  of  what  was  called 
heresy  among  his  followers,  by  practising  the  most 
barbarous  cruelties  on  his  prisoners,  who  were  mu- 
tilate 1  and  tortured  to  death  by  the  victors.  A 
seconi  successful  battle  was  followed  by  the  same 
atrocities,  giving  evidence  that  even  the  restraining 
influence  formerly  exercised  by  the  presence  of  true 
Christians  among  the  troops  was  withdrawn,  and 
that  the  spirit  of  revenge  had  taken  place  of  that 
noble  devotion  to  a  better  cause  which  once  charac- 
terized the  Toulousians.  A  thousand  piles  of  burn- 
ing faggots,  heaped  with  martyred  Albigenses, 
would  not  have  afforded  to  Rome  such  a  triumph  as 
did  these  cruelties  of  a  successful  foe :  in  the  former 
case,  she  could  but  kill  the  body,  and  after  that  had 
no  more  that  she  could  do :  in  the  latter,  she  saw 
her  own  venom  infused  into  the  soul,  and  the  vic- 
tims were  hers  and  the  dragon's  forever. 

The  signal  punishment  which  followed  these  acts 
en  the  part  of  men  who  could  not  plead  ignorance 
af  beltei  *.hin<rs.  was  a  finishing  blow  to  the  wars 


COJTCLTJSK  N.  29j 

of  many  years.  Here  again  we  meet  wilh  the  inde- 
fatigable emissary  of  Satan,  Fouquet,  who  encour- 
aged Humbert  de  Beaujeu,  the  commander  over 
whose  troops  Raymond  had  achieved  these  deeply- 
tarnished  conquests,  to  advance  upon  Toulouse  with 
&  powerful  reinforcement  of  crusaders,  brought  to- 
gether by  the  strenuous  efforts  of  the  bishops  and 
preaching-brotherhood.  Guilty  and  terrified,  the 
Languedocian  troops  threw  themselves  into  their 
ancient  city,  and  prepared  to  defend  it  as  best  they 
might ;  but  here  again  Fouquet  triumphed  by 
means  as  contrary  to  the  commandment  of  God  as 
they  were  odiously  barbarous  towards  man.  He 
caused  the  crusaders  to  assemble  each  morning, 
close  under  the  walls  of  Toulouse,  the  better  to  at- 
tract the  attention  of  thoso.  within ;  and  then,  in- 
stead of  assailing  its  fortific?.tions,  to  disperse  ;  each 
troop  under  its  own  leader,  and  each  daily  by  a 
new  route,  across  the  plains  through  the  valleys, 
over  the  mountains,  deliberately  cutting  down,  up- 
rooting and  utterly  destroying  the  fruit-trees,  and 
every  vegetable  growth  tln>t  could  give  promise  of 
a  future  supply  to  the  wre'ched  proprietors  and  la- 
borers of  the  soil.  .Not  ?.  vestige  did  they  leave  of 
aught  that  could  yield  harvest  or  vintage,  or  glean- 
ing of  any  kind;  wbih,  so  far  as  their  ingenuity 
could  eft'eot  it,  the  v^ry  ground  was  rendered  barren 
and  worthless  Fr^ni  their  towers  and  walls  the 
people  of  TouVus^  looked  forth  upon  this  fearful 
novelty  in  tln  ^j-fare  to  which  they  had  been  so 
24* 


282  CONCLUSION. 

long  accustomed  ;  for  a  novelty  it  was,  because  thfl 
united  energies  of  a  large  army  were  devoted  exclu- 
sively to  the  work,  so  long  as  there  lay  within 
leagues  around  a  spot  wearing  the  aspect  of  present 
or  future  fertility.  The  citizens  dared  not  ven- 
ture forth,  well  knowing  their  inability  to  cope  with 
the  enemy,  and  the  danger  of  leaving  their  gates 
with  a  diminished  guard.  The  garrison,  recently 
returned  from  the  battle-field,  was  paralyzed  with 
conscious  guilt :  they  had  shown  no  mercy  and  could 
but  expect  tenfold  retribution  from  a  foe  to  whom 
for  the  first  time  they  had  given  real  cause  of 
offence.  Three  months  thus  passed,  without  a  day'; 
cessation  from  the  work  of  ruin,  sufficed.  Winter 
had  arrived,  and  no  harvest  was  housed,  no  vintage 
gleaned,  no  hope,  for  years  to  come,  of  that  supply 
without  which  the  wealthiest  among  them  must 
perish.  God's  saints  were  the  salt  that  preserved 
the  mass  so  long ;  they  were  gone,  and  nothing 
remained  but  natural  corruption,  eating  its  way 
through  the  abandoned  body. 

Raymond  VII.  made  the  best  terms  he  could  ; 
and  tb«y  were  sufficiently  hard.  Among  them,  he 
obliged  himself  to  raze  their  walls,  and  to  fill  up  the 
formidable  ditches  of  Toulouse,  rendering  it  incapa- 
ble of  ever  presenting  a  defensive  front  to  any  as- 
sailant ;  while  a  French  garrison,  occupying  the 
splendid  Narbonnese  Castle,  would  keep  strict 
watch  over  the  proceedings  of  the  citizens.  An- 
other article  bound  h  m  to  set  a  price  on  the  head 


288 

of  evety  sus])ected  heretic,  throughout  his  domin- 
ions ;  and  a  third  to  make  war  on  his  generous 
faithful  allies,  the  Count  of  Foix,  and  nil  who  yet 
showed  a  disposition  to  preserve  their  independence. 
But  a  more  sure  method  of  silencing  forever  the 
voice  of  truth  in  those  unhappy  regions  was  adopted, 
by  the  assembled  prelates  of  the  provinces,  who 
met  in  council  at  Toulouse  for  that  purpose  ;  and 
this  was  the  introduction  and-  permanent  settlement 
of  that  master-piece  of  what  is  itself  the  master- 
piece of  Satan — that  most  hideous  child  of  a  hide- 
ous parent,  the  Inquisition,  which  had  received  the 
fiat  of  its  establishment,  as  a  godly  and  useful  meant) 
of  upholding  the  power  of  the  papacy,  at  the  fourth 
council  of  Lateran,  so  infamously  famous  for  its  an- 
tichristian  decrees.  If  now  a  single  sheep  or  lamb 
of  Christ's  flock  lurked  among  the  blighted  scenes 
of  former  peace  and  prosperity,  it  was  sure  to  be 
discovered,  brought  forth,  and  immolated. 

The  treaty  signed  at  Paris  on  the  12th  of  April, 
1229,  put  a  final  close  to  the  secular  part  of  the 
contest,  which  had  been  carried  on  for  more  than 
twenty  years,  between  the  people  and  the  princes 
of  Languedoc,  on  the  one  side,  and  the  court  of 
Rome,  aided  by  the  armies  of  France,  on  the  other. 
That  treaty  has  been  justly  termed,  "  the  most  ex- 
traordinary that  any  sovereign  had  ever  been  re- 
quired to  sign.  Each  of  its  articles,"  says  William 
do  Puy  T/uvrens,  "contained  a  concession  which 


284  CONCLUSION. 

might  alone  lave  sufficed  for  the  ransom  of  tnr 
count  of  Toulouse,  had  he  been  made  prisoner  in  a 
universal  rout  of  all  his  army.  Raymond  neverthe- 
less, did  not  hesitate  to  give  his  consent  to  it."  * 
By  that  treaty,  he  surrendered  to  the  king  all  his 
possessions  in  France,  and  to  the  legate  of  Rome, 
all  that  he  held  in  the  kingdom  of  Aries.  After 
this  universal  renunciation,  the  king,  as  if  by  favor, 
granted  him,  as  a  fief,,  for  the  remainder  of  his  life, 
a  part  only  of  what  he  had  taken  from  him,  namely, 
a  portion  of  the  diocese  of  Toulouse,  of  Albigeois, 
and  of  Quercy,  with  the  entire  dioceses  of  Agenois 
and  of  Rouergue.  These  provinces,  which  the  king 
restored  to  him,  were,  moreover,  to  form  the  por- 
tion of  his  daughter  Jane,  then  nine  years  of  age, 
whom  he  named  his  sole  heiress,  and  whom  he  en- 
gaged to  deliver  immediately  into  the  hands  of 
Blanche,  that  she  might  bring  her  up  under  her 
own  eyes,  and  afterwards  marry  her  to  one  of  her 
sons  at  her  discretion.  He  also  promised  to  pay 
20,000  marks  of  silver  in  four  years  ;  further  en- 
gaging, as  we  observed  just  now,  to  raze  the  walls 
and  fill  up  the  ditches  of  Toulouse  ; — to  receive  a 
French  garrison  into  his  castle  ; — to  dismiss  all  his 
mercenaries,  or  hired  troops  ;  to  make  war  upon  all 
who  had  been  his  faithful  allies  :  and  to  offer  and 
pay  a  reward  of  two  marks  for  every  one  of  his  own 
subjects  who  might  be  arrested  as  a  heretic. 

This  entire  subjugation  of  the  prince  was  followed 
*  Guill.  de  Pcxlio  Laurentii,  c.  xxxix.  j>.  691 


CONCLUSION.  285 

in  Novemb3r  of  the  same  year,  by  the  permanent 
establishment  of  the  Inquisition.  In  a  council  held 
at  Toulouse,  composed  of  the  archbishops  of  Nar- 
bonne,  of  Bordeaux,  and  of  Auch,  with  their  suffra- 
gans, it  was  provided  that  the  bishops  were  to  de- 
pute into  each  province  a  priest,  and  two  or  three 
laics,  to  seek  after,  (having  first  engaged  themselves 
by  oath,)  all  the  heretics  and  their  abettors — "  Let 
them  visit  carefully,"  says  the  first  canon,  "  each 
house  in  their  parish,  and  the  subterranean  cham- 
bers, which  any  suspicion  shall  have  caused  to  be 
remarked  ;  let  them  examine  all  the  out-houses,  the 
retreats  under  the  roofs,  and  all  the  secret  places, 
which  we  order  them,  besides,  everywhere  to  de- 
stroy: if  they  find  there  any  heretics,  or  any  of 
their  abettors  or  concealers,  let  them  in  the  first 
place  provide  that  they  may  not  escape ;  then  let 
them,  with  all  haste,  denounce  them  to  the  arch- 
bishop, the  bishop,  the  lord  of  the  place  or  his 
bailiffs,  that  they  may  be  punished  according  to  their 
deserts." 

The  providence  of  God  has  wonderfully  ordered, 
that  we  should  learn,  both  the  piety  and  constancy 
of  the  persecuted  saints,  and  the  Satanic  means  em- 
ployed for  their  extirpation,  from  Romish  pens.  A 
work  published  by  fathers  Martine  and  Durand,  of 
the  congregation  of  St.  Maur,  preserves  to  us  the 
instructions  given  to  the  Inquisitors,  for  the  proper 
discharge  of  their  duty.  These  instructions  com- 
mence thus : — 


286 

"  In  this  manner  the  inquisitors  proceed  in  (he 
provinces  of  Carcassonne  and  Toulouse.  Fhst,  the 
accused  or  suspected  of  heresy  is  cited  ;  when  he 
appears,  he  is  sworn  upon  the  holy  Gospels,  that  he 
will  fully  say  all  that  he  knows  for  a  truth,  respect- 
ing the  crime  of  heresy  or  Vaudoisie,  as  well  con- 
cerning himself  as  others ;  as  well  concerning  the 
living  as  the  dead.  If  he  conceals  or  denies  any- 
thing, he  is  put  in  prison,  and  kept  there  until  he 
shall  have  confessed  ;  but  if  he  says  the  truth,  (that 
is,  if  he  accuses  either  others  or  himself,)  his  confes- 
sion is  diligently  written  down  by  a  notary  public. 
.  .  .  When  a  sufficient  number  have  confessed  to 
make  a  sermon  (thus  they  then  called,  what  we  at 
this  day  name,  from  a  Portuguese  word,  auto  daft,) 
the  inquisitors  convoke,  in  a  suitable  place,  some 
juris-consults,  minor-brothers,  and  preachers,  and  the 
ordinaries,  (the  bishops,)  without  whose  counsel,  or 
that  of  their  vicars,  no  person  ought  to  be  condemned. 
When  the  council  is  assembled,  the  inquisitors  shall 
submit  to  it  a  short  extract  from  the  confession  of  each 
person,  but  suppressing  his  name.  They  shall  say, 
for  example,  A  certain  person,  of  such  a  diocese,  has 
done  what  follows,  after  which  the  counsellors  reply, 
Let  the  inquisitor  impose  upon  him  an  arbitrary  pen- 
ance, or  let  this  person  be  immured,  or  in  fine,  let  him 
be  delivered  to  the  secular  arm.  After  which  they 
are  all  cited  for  the  following  Sunday.  On  this  day, 
the  inquisitors,  in  the  presence  of  the  prelates,  the 
abbots,  the  bailift's,  and  all  the  people,  cause  those 


281 

to  be  first  called,  who  have  confessed  and  persisted 
in  their  confession ;  for,  if  they  retract,  they  are  sent 
back  to  prison,  and  their  faults  only  are  recited. 

"  They  begin  with  those  who  are  to  have  arbi- 
trary penances :  to  them  they  give  crosses,  they  im- 
pose pilgrimages,  greater  or  smaller,  according  to 
their  faults  ;  to  those  who  have  perjured  themselves, 
they  give  double  crosses.  All  these  having  gone 
out  with  their  crosses,  they  recite  the  faults  of  those 
who  are  to  be  immured,  making  them  rise,  one  after 
the  other,  and  each  remain  standing  whilst  his  con- 
fession is  read.  When  it  is  finished,  the  inquisitor 
seats  himself,  and  gives  his  sentence  sitting,  first  in 
Latin,  then  in  French. 

"  Finally,  they  recite  the  faults  of  the  relapsed, 
and  the  sentence  being  pronounced,  they  are  deliv- 
ered. .  .  .  Nevertheless,  those  who  are  delivered  as 
relapsed,  are  not  to  be  burned  the  same  day  they 
are  delivered ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  they  ought  to 
be  engaged  to  confess  themselves,  and  receive  the 
eucharist,  if  they  require  it,  and  if  they  give  signs 
of  true  repentance,  for  thus  wills  the  lord  Pope." 

Such  was  the  external  form  observed.  But  the 
same  two  Benedictine  fathers  have  admitted  us 
somewhat  farther  into  the  interior  of  these  pro- 
ceedings. A  later  instruction,  printed  by  them,  is 
as  follows : — 

"  Even  he  who  is  the  most  profoundly  plunged  in 
heresy,  may  sometimes  be  brought  back,  by  the  fear 
of  death,  or  the  hope  that  he  shall  be  permitted  to 


219  CONCLUSION. 

live,  if  he  confess  sincerely  the  errors  which  he  has 
learned,  and  if  he  denounce  any  others  whom  he 
may  know  to  belong  to  this  sect.  If  he  refuses 
to  do  it,  let  him  be  shut  up  in  prison,  and  given 
to  understand,  that  there  are  witnesses  against  him, 
and  that  if  he  be  once  convicted  by  witnesses,  there 
will  be  no  mercy  for  him,  but  he  will  be  delivered 
to  death.  At  the  same  time  let  his  food  be  les- 
sened, for  such  fear  and  suffering  will  contribute  to 
humble  him.  Let  none  of  his  accomplices  be  per- 
mitted to  approach  him,  lest  they  encourage  him,  or 
teach  him  to  answer  with  artifice,  and  not  to  betray 
any  one.  Let  no  other  approach  him,  unless  it  be 
from  time  to  time  two  adroit  believers,  who  may 
advise  him  cautiously,  'and  as  if  they  had*  compas- 
sion upon  him,  to  deliver  himself  from  death,  to 
confess  where  he  has  erred,  and  upon  what  points, 
and  who  may  promise  him  that  if  he  do  this  he 
shall  escape  being  burned.  For  the  fear  of  death, 
and  the  love  of  life,  sometimes  soften  a  heart,  which 
cannot  be  affected  in  any  other  manner.  Let  them 
speak  to  him  also  in  an  encouraging  manner,  saying. 
'  Be  not  afraid  to  confess,  if  you  have  given  credi4 
to  these  men  when  they  said  such  and  such  things, 
because  you  believed  them  virtuous.  If  you  heard 
them  willingly,  if  you  assisted  them  with  your  pro- 
perty, if  you  confessed  yourself  to  them,  it  was  lie- 
cause  you  loved  all  whom  you  believed  to  be  good 
people,  and  because  you  knew  nothing  511  respecting 
them.  The  same  might  happen  to  men  much  wiser 


CONCLtSION. 

than  you,  who  might  also  b<3  deceived  by  ihern. 
he  begins  then  to  soften,  and  to  grant  that  he  lias, 
in  some  place,  heard  these  teachers  speak  concern' 
ing  the  Gospels  or  the  Epistles,  you  must  then  ask 
Lira,  cautiously,  if  these  teachers  believed  such  and 
uch  things,  for  example,  if  they  denied  the  exist- 
ence of  purgatory,  or  the  e-fficacy  of  prayers  for  the 
dead,  or  if  they  pretended  that  a  wicked  priest, 
bound  by  sin,  cannot  absolve  others,  or  what  they 
say  about  the  sacraments  of  the  church  ?  After- 
wards, you  must  ask  them,  cautiously,  whether  they 
regard  this  doctrine  as  good  and  true,  for  he  who 
grants  this,  has  thereby  confessed  his  heresy.  .  .  . 
Whereas  if  you  had  asked  him  bluntly  whether  he 
believed  the  same  things,  he  would  not  have  an- 
swered, because  he  would  have  suspected  that  you 
wished  to  take  advantage  of  him  and  accuse  him  as 
a  heretic.  .  .  .  These  are  very  subtle  foxes,  and  you 
can  only  take  them  by  a  crafty  subtilty." 

We  will  add  here  a  last  instruction  given  by  the 
inquisitor,  the  author  of  this  work,  to  his  brother, 
drawn  from  his  personal  experience.  "  Note,"  saya 
he,  "  that  the  inquisitor  ought  always  to  siqjpose  a 
fact,  without  any  proof,  and  only  inquire  after  the 
nix  umstances  of  the  fact.  For  example,  he  should 
bay,  How  many  times  hast  thou  confessed  thyself  to 
the  heretics  ?  or,  in  what  chamber  have  the  heretic« 
slept  in  thy  house?  or  similar  things. 

"  In  like  manner  the  inquisitor  may,  from  time  tc 
time,  consult  a  book,  as  if  lie  had  the  life  of  the  bet' 
25 


290  CONCLUSION. 

etic  written  there,  ar>d  all  the  questions  that  he  wn» 
to  put  to  him. 

"  Likewise,  when  a  heretic  confesses  himself  tc 
/iiiu,  lie  ought  to  impose  upon  him  the  duty  of  ac- 
cusing his  accomplices,  otherwise  he  would  not  give 
a  sign  of  true  penitence. 

"Likewise,  when  a  heretic  either  does  not  fully 
confess  his  errors,  or  does  not  accuse  his  accom- 
plices, you  must  say  to  him,  in  order  to  terrify  him, 
'  Very  well,  we  see  how  it  is.  Think  of  thy  soul, 
and  fully  renounce  heresy,  for  thou  art  about  to  die, 
and  nothing  remains  but  to  receive  with  true  peni- 
tence all  that  shall  happen  to  thee.'  And  if  he  then 
says  :  '  Since  I  must  die,  I  had  rather  die  in  my 
own  faith  than  in  that  of  the  church,'  then  it  is  cer- 
tain that  his  repentance  was  feigned,  and  he  may  be 
delivered  up  to  justice." 

The  general  plan  was  now  entirely  formed.  Sub- 
sequent councils,  treaties,  and  papal  edicts,  filled  up 
the  outline,  in  subsequent  years,  so  as  to  leave  DD 
possible  way  of  escape  for  even  the  suspected.  In 
April,  1233,  a  bull  of  Gregory  the  IXth  confided 
the  work  of  the  Inquisition  especially  to  the  Domin- 
icans, while  in  his  letters  the  Pope  exhorted  Louis 
IX.  to  unite  his  zeal  with  that  of  the  monks,  and  tc 
inflict  upon  the  relapsed  heretics,  convicted  by  the 
inquisitors,  their  merited  punishments.  He  also 
recommended  the  Dominican  monks  to  all  the  p-e- 
lates  in  the  kingdom,  and  to  the  nobles  and  bar oni 
of  Aquitaine,  praying  them  to  aid  these  monks  in 


291 

the  execution  of  their  commission.  The  bishop  of 
Tournay,  as  legate  of  the  holy  see,  named  twc  D*. 
minicans  at  Toulouse,  and  two  in  each  othe/  ally 
of  the  province,  to  form  the  tribunal  of  the  i  lilli. 
And  Raymond,  appearing  inactive  in  the  woik,  was 
summoned  before  the  legate  and  the  king  at  M.;lun, 
where  he  subscribed  new  statutes,  then  demanded 
of  him,  by  which,  (and  they  are  now  extant,)  "  he 
engages  to  pursue  and  exterminate  those  who  had 
killed  the  persecutors  of  the  heretics,  and  to  reward 
with  a  mark  of  silver,  whoever  should  denounce,  ar- 
rest, or  cause  to  be  arrested,  a  heretic ;  to  cause 
every  house  to  be  pulled  down  in  which  an  asylum 
had  been  offered  to  one  of  the  proscribed,  or  even 
where  he  might  have  found  a  burial :  to  confiscate 
the  goods  of  those  who  should  have  rendered  them 
any  kind  office  ;  to  destroy  every  lonely  cottage,  every 
grotto,  every  fastness,  where  they  might  find  a  re- 
fuge :  to  take  from  the  children  of  the  heretics,  and 
confiscate,  whatever  property  they  might  have  inher- 
ited from  their  parents  ;  to  punish,  by  the  confisca- 
tion of  all  their  goods,  and  that  without  prejudice 
to  corporal  punishments,  all  those  who,  being  called 
upon  by  the  inquisitors  to  assist  in  the  arrest  of  a 
heretic,  should  either  refuse,  or  by  design  should 
suffer  the  accused  to  escape."  In  these  same  stat- 
utes, imposed  upon  Count  Raymond,  numerous  ar- 
ticles were  added  to  the  preceding,  to  leach  these 
who  should  endeavor,  by  quitting  their  hcnes,  or 
conveying  their  property  by  fictitious  sales,  or  by 


CONCLUSION. 

other  means,  to  escape  from  the  rapacity  of  the 
officers.  These  articles  agreed  on  at  Melun  were 
afterwards  published  at  Toulouse,  on  the  18th  cf 
February,  ]  234.  A  council  held  at  Beziers,  in  the 
same  year,  ander  the  presidency  of  the  legate,  added 
still  more  to  thL  oppression,  by  permitting  any  of 
the  faithful  to  arrest  every  suspected  person,  \n 
any  place  whatsoever,  upon  an  accusation  of  here- 
sy, and  By  threatening  with  the  heaviest  penalties 
those  who  should  in  any  way  obstruct  these  private 
arrests,  as  soon  as  the  word  heresy  was  pronounced.* 
Two  years  after,  in  1235,  another  council  was 
held  at  Narbonne — the  chief  object  of  which  seems 
to  have  been,  to  multiply  the  cases  in  which,  by  a 
fiction  of  law,  they  might  apply  the  punishment  of 
relapse  or  revolt.  The  forms  of  procedure  pre- 
scribed by  this  circular  are  perhaps  more  important 
than  even  the  definition  of  the  crimes.  "As  to 
those  you  are  to  arrest,"  say  the  prelates,  "  we  think 
proper  to  add,  that  no  man  can  be  exempted  from 
imprisonment,  on  account  of  his  wife,  however  young 
she  may  be  ;  no  woman,  on  account  of  her  husband  : 
nor  both  of  them  on  account  of  their  children,  their 
relations,  or  those  to  Avhom  they  are  most  neces- 
sary. Let  not  any  one  be  exempted  from  prison, 
on  account  of  weakness,  or  age,  or  any  similar  cause. 
...  If  you  have  not  succeeded  in  arresting  them, 
hesitate  not  to  proceed  against  the  absent,  as  if  they 
were  present;  take  particular  care,  in  conformit? 
*  Labbe,  v>l.  xi.  pp.  4-13,  452. 


293 

with  the  discerning  will  of  the  apost:lic  see,  not  to 
publish  by  word  or  sign,  the  names  of  the  witnesses ; 
and  if  the  culprit  pretends  that  he  has  enemies,  and 
that  they  have  conspired  against  him,  ask  the  names 
of  those  enemies,  and  the  cause  of  that  conspiracy, 
f  jr  thus  you  will  provide  for  the  safety  of  the  wit- 
nesses, raid  the  conviction  of  the  accused.  On  ac- 
count of  the  enormity  of  this  crime,  you  ouglii  to 
admit,  in  proof  of  it,  the  testimony  of  criminals,  ;f 
infamous  persons,  and  of  accomplices.  He  who 
persists  in  denying  a  fault,  of  which  he  may  be  con- 
victed by  witnesses,  or  by  any  other  proof,  must  be 
considered,  without  hesitation,  as  an  impenitent  hsre- 
tic."* 

It  was  hard  for  human  nature  to  bear  all  this 
rigor.  A  letter  from  the  consuls  of  Narbonne  to 
those  of  Nismes,  details  the  particulars  of  a  quarrel 
which  took  place  between  the  civic  authorities  and 
the  Inquisitors.  The  consuls  allege,  that  these 
ecclesiastics,  despising  all  the  rules  of  justice,  thought 
of  nothing  but  how  to  get  possession  of  the  prop- 
erty of  the  rich,  even  when  they  were  exposed  to 
no  suspicion  of  heresy.  They  add,  that  when  the 
inquisitors  had  plundered  them,  sometimes  they  dis- 
missed them  without  trial,  and  sometimes  they  caused 
them  to  perish  in  prison,  without  pronouncing  any 
sentence  upon  them.  They  then  proceed  to  give 
examples  of  the  interrogatories  of  the  inquisitors,  to 
which  it  was  impossible  to  reply  without  being  cea- 

*  Labbe.  vol.  xi.  p.  488,  501. 
2.1* 


OfU  CONCMTS10U. 

victed  of  heresy.  The  greater  part  of  these  quto* 
tions  are  as  improper  to  be  repeated,  as  they  were 
incapable  of  being  answered,  being  frivolous,  cap- 
tious, and  indecent ;  but  they  afterwards  passed  to 
others  of  a  somewhat  different  kind.  "  They  de- 
manded of  these  simple  laics,  if  the  host  which  tha 
priest  consecrated  contains  all  the  body  of  Jesil3 
Christ  ?  If  the  laic  answers  that  it  contains  the  en- 
tire body  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  inquisitor  directly  re- 
plies :  You  believe  then  that  when  four  priests,  who 
are  in  one  church,  consecrate  each  of  them  a  host, 
as  they  ought  to  do,  each  of  these  hosts  contains 
the  body  of  Jesus  Christ  ?  If  the  laic  replies  thai 
he  believes  so,  You  think  then,  replies  the  inquisitor, 
that  there  are  four  Gods  ?  Then  the  affrighted  laic 
affirms  the  contrary/'* 

Tyrannical,  however,  as  was  the  conduct  of  the 
Dominicans,  their  yoke  could  not  be  shaken  off,  nor 
their  main  purpose  defeated.  "  Heresy"  was  effect- 
ually extirpated  in  those  provinces,  Yet  was  the 
ancient  maxim  still  shown  to  be  true, — that  "  the 
blood  of  the  martyrs  is  the  seed  of  the  Church." 
Driven  from  their  happy  and  peaceful  abodes,  the 
"  heretics"  of  Albi  and  Toulouse  wandered  far  and 
vide,  and  the  history  of  Europe  brings  them  to  our 
view,  year  by  year,  during  a  full  century  after,  in 
all  parts  of  this  quarter  of  the  globe.  No  voice,  1:0 
outward  appearance  announced  the  preaching  of  re- 
form, or  troubled  the  public  tranquillity.  Yet,  th»i 
•  Hist,  ile  Nism  -s,  toin.  i.  liv.  iii.  p.  307. 


29«'i 

proscribed  Albigenses,  who,  far  from  their  country, 
had  found  an  asylum  in  the  cottage  of  the  peasant, 
or  the  poor  artisan,  whose  labors  they  shared  in 
profound  obscurity,  had  taught  their  hosts  to  read 
ihft  Gospel  in  common,  to  pray  in  their  native  tongue 
without  the  ministry  of  priests,  to  praise  God,  and 
gratefully  submit  to  the  chastisements  which  his 
hand  inflicted,  as  the  means  of  their  sanctification. 
In  vain  did  the  inquisition  believe  that  it  had  com- 
pelled human  reasuii  to  submission,  and  established 
an  invariable  rule  of  faith.  In  the  midst  of  the 
darkness  which  it  had  created,  it  saw,  all  at  once, 
some  luminous  points  appear  where  it  would  least 
have  expected  them.  Its  efforts  to  extinguish, 
served  only  to  scatter  them,  and  no  sooner  had  it 
conquered,  than  it  was  compelled  to  renew  the  com- 
bat. 

"  Gregory  IX.,  who  had  deemed  the  very  soil  of 
Languedoc  polluted,  by  its  having  produced  so 
many  sectaries,  and  that  the  count  of  Toulouse 
could  not  be  innocent,  whilst  he  had  so  many  her- 
etics amongst  his  subjects,  all  at  once  discovered, 
with  alarm,  that  even  at  Rome  he  was  surrounded 
with  heretics.  To  give  an  example  to  Christendom, 
be  caused  a  great  number  of  them  to  be  burned  be- 
fore 'the  gates  of  Santa  Maria  Majora  ;  he  after- 
wards imprisoned,  in  the  convents  of  la  Cava,  ind 
of  the  Monte  Cassino,  those  who  were  priests  or 
clerks,  and  who  had  been  publicly  degraded,  with 
those  that  had  given  signs  of  penitence.  At  tbe 


290  CONCLUSION. 

tame  time,  he  caused  the  Senators  cf  Rome  to  pro- 
mulgate an  edict,  which  determined  the  different 
punishments  to  be  assigned  to  the  heretics,  to  thc.-e 
who  encouraged  them,  to  those  who  should  give 
them  an  asylum,  and  to  those  who  neglected  to  ac- 
cuse them  ;  always  dividing  the  confiscations  be- 
tween the  spy  who  denounces,  and  the  judge  who 
condemns,  that  the  scaffolds  might  never  be  l;rt 
without  victims  ;  a  combination  which  the  Roruii 
court  has  not  renounced  to  this  day.  He  sent  the 
senators'  edict  and  his  own  bull  to  the  archbishop 
of  Milan,  to  engage  him  to  follow  his  example.  He 
afterwards  profited  by  his  recent  reconciliation  with 
Frederic  II.,  to  announce  to  him,  that  Cathari,  Pa- 
terini,  Poor  of  Lyons,  and  other  heretics,  formed  in 
the  school  of  the  Albigenses,  had  at  the  s;ime  time 
appeared  in  Lombardy  and  in  the  two  Sicilies,  and 
to  obtain  from  his  friendship  an  edict  which  has 
gained  him  the  eulogium  of  the  annalist  of  the 
Church,  and  has  been  deposited  in  the  pontifical  ar- 
chives. By  this  edict,  the  emperor  commanded  all 
pcdestats  and  other  judges,  immediately  to  deliver 
to  the  flames  ever-y  man  who  should  be  convicted  of 
heresy  by  the  bishop  of  his  Jiocese,  and  to  pull  out 
the  tongues  of  those  to  whom  the  bishop  should 
think  it  proper  to  show  favor,  that  they  might  not 
corrupt  others,  by  attempting  to  justify  themselves. 
After  having  thus  raged  in  Italy  against  the  fugi- 
tive Albigenses  and  their  disciples,  Gregory  IX.  did 
Dot  forget  to  pursue  them  in  France.  He  \\  'ote  Lc 


CONCLUSION.  207 

the  archbishop  of  Bourges,  and  to  the  bishop  of 
Auxerre,  to  exhort  them  to  show  themselves  worthy 
of  the  sacred  ordination  they  had  received,  Ly  com- 
mitting to  the  flames  all  the  heretics  that  had  bet* 
discovered  at  la  Charite  upon  the  Loire."  * 

Germany  was  soon  found  to  be  similarly  infested. 
The  city  of  Stettin  was  reported  to  be  filled  with 
heresy  ;  and  Gregory  addressed  bulls  to  the  bishops 
of  Minden,  of  Lubeck,  and  of  Rochhasburg,  to  incite 
them  to  preach  up  a  crusade  against  the  heretics. 
The  mandate  was  obeyed,  and  the  Duke  of  Brabant 
and  the  Count  of  Holland  took  the  command  of  a 
new  army  of  the  cross.  The  Romish  annalists  tell 
us,  that  in  the  year  1233,  "  an  innumerable  multitude 
of  heretics  was  burned  alive,  through  all  Germany; 
while  a  still  greater  number  apostatized."!  From 
our  own  chronicler,  Knighton,  we  learn,  that  many 
of  the  Aquitanian  fugitives  escaped  into  England, 
and  that  some  of  them  were  burned.  Thuanus  says, 
that  others  migrated  into  Calabria,  and  some  to  Bo- 
hemia and  Poland.  A  few,  it  is  certain,  found  a 
peaceful  refuge  among  the  Valdenses  of  Piedmont ; 
for  a  Romish  missionary  who  visited  the  valleys  of 
Piedmont  in  A.  D.  1405,  states  that  he  found  then* 
two  distinct  communities: — one,  of  the  ancient  Vau- 
dois,  the  other,  a  body  of  Albigeois,  who  had  dweli 
there  ever  since  they  had  been  driven  from  thfti* 
nomes,  in  the  crusades  of  the  thirteenth  century, 

*  Sismondi's  Albigensic  Crusade,  pp.  235 — 237 
f  Lab* ;,  torn.  xi.  p.  477. 


298  CONCLUSION, 

The  history,  then,  of  the  extirpation  o.  this  one* 
flourishing  church  of  Languedoc,  presents,  at  one 
view,  the  fulfilment  of  various  promises  and  predic- 
tions which  we  find  in  God's  word.  There  is  "  a 
threefold  cord,"  which  is  "not  easily  broken." 

1.  We  are  warned  by  Daniel,  that,  during  the 
predicted  reign  of  the  Little  Horn,  that  Antichris- 
tian  power  should  "  wear  out  the  saints  of  the  Most 
High;" — which  should  be  "given  into  his  hand," 
until  the  completion  of  "  a  time  and  times  and  half 
a  time."     This  is  the  "  WAR  WITH  THE  SAINTS," — ia 
which,  as  the  prophet  was  forewarned,  the  Little 
Horn  should  "  prevail  against   them."     The  very 
same  remarkable  expression  is  adopted  by  St.  John, 
whose   ten-horned   beast    made    "  WAR  WITH  THE 
SAINTS  ;  and  overcame  them ;" — and  whose  Great 
Harlot,  seated  on  that  beast,  is  seen  "  drunken  with 
the  blood  of  the  saints ;  and  with  the  blood  of  the 
martyrs  of  Jesus." 

2.  But  our  Lord  himself  forewarns  and  instructs 
his  disciples,  what  they  should  do,  under  these  cir- 
cumstances.    He  plainly  told  his  followers,  "  Theu 
shall  they  deliver  you  up  to  be  afflicted,  and  shall 
kill  you :  and  ye  shall  be  hated  of  all  nations  for  my 
name's  sake.     And  then  shall  many  be  offended, 
and  shall  betray  one  another,  and  shall  hate  one 
another.     And  many  false  prophets  shall   riss,  and 
shall  deceive   many.     And   because  iniquity  shall 
abound,  the  love  of  many  shall  wax  cold.     But  ki 


CONCLUSION.  20V 

that  shall  endure  unto  the  end,  the  same  shall  be 
saved."     (Matt.  xxiv.  9-13.) 

And  again  : — 

"  Ye  shall  be  hated  of  all  men  for  my  name's 
sake :  but  he  that  endureth  to  the  end  shall  be  saved. 
Bat  when  they  persecute  you  in  this  city,  flee  ye 
into  another :  for  verily  I  say  unto  you,  Ye  shall  not 
have  gone  over  the  cities  of  Israel,  till  the  Son  of 
man  be  come."  (Matt.  x.  22,  23.) 

And  further : — 

"And  this  Gospel  of  the  kingdom  shall  be 
preached  in  all  the  world  for  a  witness  unto  all  na- 
tions ;  and  then  shall  the  end  come."  (Matt.  xxiv. 
14.) 

3.  The  sure  and  supporting  promise,  howeve'r,  on 
which  his  persecuted  people  might  rely,  was  given 
to  them  at  the  very  moment  of  his  parting,  when  he 
said,  "  Go  ye  therefore,  and  teach  all  nations,  bap- 
tizing them  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the 
Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost :  Teaching  them  to  ob- 
serve all  things  whatsoever  I  have  commanded  you : 

and,  LO,  I  AM  WITH  YOU  ALWAY,  EVEN  UNTO  THE  END 

OF  THE  WORLD."     (Matt,  xxviii.  19,  20.) 

Thus,  we  observe,  first,  that  for  a  certain  allotted 
period,  the  Man  of  Sin  was  to  have  dominion, — was 
to  overcome  the  saints,  and  to  become  drunken  with 
their  blood :  secondly,  that  the  Lord's  people  were 
to  be  thus  driven  from  one  country  to  another,  as- 
sured of  this,  that  amidst  all  their  wanderings,  they 
would  no;  have  completed  their  task  of  preaching 


300  CONCLUSION. 

the  Gospel  to  every  nation  under  heaven,  until  the 
very  moment  of  their  Lord's  approach.  But,  thirdly, 
ander  all  these  sufferings  and  discouragements, 
"  troubled  on  every  side,  but  not  distressed  :  per- 
plexed, but  not  in  despair,  persecuted,  but  not  for- 
saken, cast  down,  but  not  destroyed,"— they  had  the 
last,  the  sure  promise  of  Christ  himself  for  their 
perpetual  consolation  : — "Lo,  I  am  with  you  ALWAY, 
even  unto  the  end  of  the  world." 

Such  is  the  infallible  portraiture  of  the  condition 
and  the  destiny  of  the  people  of  God  during  the 
reign  of  Antichrist ;  and  most  fully  have  we  seen 
it  fulfilled  in  the  history  which  we  have  now  con- 
cluded. 

Yet,  strange  to  say,  there  are  still  some  to  be 
found — not  among  Tractarians  or  secret  Romanists 
merely,  but  among  sincere  Christians,  like  the  late 
Dr.  Arnold,  and  some  of  the  Dissenters,  who  reso- 
lutely shut  their  eyes  to  the  leading  facts  of  this 
case.  They  admit  the  existence  of  much  bigotry 
and  intolerance, — but  this,  they  add,  you  may  find 
in  the  days  of  Cyprian  and  Jerome,  as  well  as  in 
the  times  of  Hiidebrand  or  Innocent  III.  They  ac- 
knowledge, too,  the  existence  of  many  corruptions, 
in  the  middle  ages; — but  the  seminal  principle  of  all 
these  corruptions,  they  add,  was  perceptible  even  in 
apostolic  days.  Thus,  by  firmly  closing  their  eyes 
against  the  plainest  facts  of  history,  they  arrive  at 
the  conclusion,  that  there -was  no  APOSTASY,  and  no 

"  WAR  WITH  THE  SAINTS." 


CONCLUSION.  801 

To  render  this  view  at  all  tenable,  however,  they 
•re  forced  to  question  the  authenticity  of  the  book 
of  Daniel,  and  to  maintain  that  the  Apocalypse 
pictures  forth  either  the  events  of  the  days  of  Nero, 
or  else  the  events  of  a  period  which  has  not  yet  even 
commenced ! 

The  simple-minded  and  humble  student  of  God's 
word,  however,  will  only  be  repelled  and  alarmed 
by  these  violent  propositions.  He  finds  Holy  Scrip, 
ture  and  the  records  of  even  Roman  historians  unit- 
ing in  the  fullest  harmony  to  establish  the  fact,  that 
from  the  commencement  of  the  mystic  1260  years, 
to  its  close,  there  was  existing  in  Europe  a  Great 
Spiritual  Tyranny  ; — and  that  by  this  Tyranny  "  the 
Saints,"  whether  Paulicians,  Cathari,  Vaudois,  Al- 
bigeois,  or  Lollards,  —  were  uniformly  "  warred 
against ;"  and  until  the  close  of  the  allotted  period 
were  "  worn  out,"  —  "  prevailed  against,"  —  and 


APPENDIX. 


OF  the  Albigenses,  their  purity  of  doctiine  and  of 
life,  and  the  last  traces  that  remain  of  them,  in  the 
page  of  history,  the  following  records  ought  per- 
haps to  be  added : — 

"A  contemporary  historian,  after  describing  the 
missionary  efforts  of  Dominic  and  the  Bishop  of 
Ozma  against  them,  says,  that  these  apostles  of 
Popery  demanded  of  the  inhabitants  of  those  parts, 
why  they  did  not  drive  the  heretics  out  of  their 
country  ?  To  which  the  answer  was,  '  We  cannot ! 
we  have  been  brought  up  with  them ;  we  have  rela- 
tions among  them,  and  we  see  the  goodness  of  their 
lives.'  "  And  thus,"  adds  the  historian,  "  does  the 
spirit  of  falsehood,  only  by  the  appearance  of  a  pure 
and  spotless  life,  lead  away  these  inconsiderate  peo- 
ple from  the  truth." 

"  In  fine,  the  real  state  of  the  case,  (allowing  for 
their  own  bias,)  is  truly  described  by  two  French 
historians.  Paradin,  the  annalist  of  Burgundy, 
says : — 

" '  I  have  seen  certain  histories,  in  which  both  the 
Albigenses  and  their  princes  stand  excused  of  the 
allegations  so  frequently  brought  against  them.  The 
and  errors  ef  Manicheisin,  with  which  they 


APPENDIX.  303 

were  said  to  be  stained,  were  purely  fictitious. 
Through  sheer  malice,  such  enormities  were  imputed 
to  them  by  their  enemies.  They  did  none  of  the 
things  whereof  they  were  falsely  accused  ;  though  they 
did  indeed,  somewhat  too  freely,  reprehend  the  vices 
and  corruptions  of  the  prelates.' 

"  And  Bernard  Girard  thus  confirms  this  view  :— 
" '  The  Counts  of  Toulouse  and  Cominges  and 
Bigorree,  and  even  the  King  of  Arragon  himself,' 
says  he,  'espoused  the  party  of  the  Albigenses. 
These  sectaries  were  tainted  with  bad  opinions ;  but 
that  circumstance  did  not  so  much  stir  up  against 
them  the  hatred  of  the  Pope  and  of  the  great  prin- 
ces, as  the  freedom  of  speech  with  which  they  cen- 
sured the  vices  and  the  dissolute  manners  of  the  said 
princes  and  ecclesiastics ;  for  they  were  accustomed 
to  reprehend  the  life  and  actions  of  the  Pope  him- 
self. This  was  the  chief  matter  which  stirred  up 
an  universal  hatred  against  them ;  and  it  moreover 
was  the  cause  that  many  nefarious  opinions,  from 
which  they  altogether  dissented,  were  fictitiously  as- 
cribed to  them.  The  clergy  of  France,  in  short, 
falsely  accused  the  Albigensos  of  all  sorts  of  here- 
sies, merely  because  they  exposed  and  reprehended 
their  vices.'* 

" '  The  fugitives  of  Languedoc    scattered  them- 
selves  over  several  of  the    kingdoms  of    Europe. 
Knighton  says,  that  many  of  them  escaped  into  Eng- 
land, and  that  some  were  burnt  alive.     Thuanus  tell« 
«  The  Church  in  the  Middle  Ages,  pp.  337,  338. 


804  APPENDIX. 

us,  that  others  migrated  into  Calabria,  and  some  lo 
Bohemia  and  Poland.  That  one  portion,  at  least, 
reached  a  quiet  retreat  in  the  valleys  of  Piedmont, 
seems  clear  from  the  fact,  that  in  A.  D.  1405,  Vin- 
cent Ferrier,  a  Papist,  visited  these  valleys  for  the 
purpose  of  proselyting  their  inhabitants  to  Roman- 
ism ;  when  he  found  there  two  distinct,  though 
friendly  communities  ;  one  being  that  of  the  ancient 
Vaudois  ;  the  other  a  body  of  Albigeois,  who  had 
resided  there  ever  since  the  extirpation  of  the 
churches  of  Christ  from  Languedoc.  Another  cen- 
tury or  two  probably  commingled  these  two  com- 
munities together,  but  the  fact,  as  existing  in  A.D. 
1405,  seems  to  be  placed  beyond  a  doubt.'  "* 

Of  their  great  persecutor,  perhaps  the  following 
notice  may  possess  some  interest : — A  recent  travel- 
ler in  the  South  of  France  thus  writes  : 

"  The  feeble  and  vacillating  Count  Raymond  of 
Toulouse,  the  unhappy  tool  and  slave  of  a  spiritual 
power,  whose  temporal  tyranny  he  at  times  resisted, 
and  at  times  submitted  to,  died  as  he  had  lived,  the 
victim  of  superstition ;  while  he  revolted  from  tern 
poral  oppression,  he  trembled  at  spiritual  maledic- 
tion. 

"  Unable  to  delight  in  the  persecutions  of  bis  un- 
offending, pious  subjects,  he  was  accused  by  the  in» 
quisitorial  monks,  and  even  accused  himself,  of  sym- 
pathizing with  heretics  :  a  devout  belie.ver  in  the 
*  The  Church  in  the  Middle  Ages,  pp.  351,  352. 


APPENDIX.  308 

Church  that  stripped  him  of  his  lands  and  dignity, 
he  endured  all  the  horrors  that  a  state  of  excom- 
munication can  inflict,  and  remained  on  his  knees 
outside  the  churches  which  he  was  not  allowed  to 
pollute  by  entering. 

"As  is  usually  the  case  with  such  minds,  suffering 
and  misfortune  only  tended  to  deepen  superstitious 
feelings  and  terrors.  He  had  assumed  the  order 
cf  St.  John,  and  when  speechless,  before  his  death, 
he  was  covered  with  the  mantle  of  his  order,  and 
seen  to  kiss  it  with  the  utmost  devotion.  Yet  as 
an  early  patron  of  the  Provencal  heresy,  the  perse, 
cution  of  the  Church  continued  even  after  his  death ; 
his  body  was  not  allowed  to  be  buried ;  nor  could 
his  son  even  obtain  leave  to  do  so.  His  skull  was 
long  preserved  at  Toulouse,  and  there  I  looked  with 
interest  on  his  bust. 

"  The  grave  of  Simon  de  Montfort,  (if  such  it  is,) 
in  the  Cathedral  of  old  Carcassonne,  is  nameless : 
it  is  only  a  slab  of  red  marble,  without  name  or  date. 
I  was  looking  at  it  with  some  of  these  thoughts  in 
my  mind,  when  a  young  Frenchman  approached, 
and  asked  if  I  coulo.  tell  him  where  was  the  tomb 
of  a  great  saint,  who  had  fought  for  the  Christian! 
several  ages  ago. 

"  I  felt  it  strange  to  point  down  to  the  red  slab, 
and  answer — '  There ' — Simon  de  Montfort,  a  great 
saint,  and  fighting  for  the  Christians  !"* 

•Christian  Lndy's  Magazine,  vol.  ixii.  pp.  30,  31. 


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